No. 180, December 2011 - The 30th Mutual Visit Program between the National Diet Library and the National Library of China | NDL Newsletter

National Diet Library Newsletter

No. 180, December 2011

The 30th Mutual Visit Program between
the National Diet Library and
the National Library of China

Photo of the NLC delegation and Dr. Nagao, Mr. Taya and Mr. Amino
NLC delegation and Dr. Nagao, Librarian of the NDL (third from left), Mr. Taya, Senior Specialist, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau (fourth from right) and Mr. Amino, Director General, Administrative Department (first on left)

A delegation from the National Library of China (NLC) visited Japan from November 8 to 15, 2011, on the 30th mutual visit program between the National Diet Library (NDL) and the NLC. The program started in 1981 and since then, the NDL and the NLC have been alternately sending a delegation each year.

Headed by Mr. Zhang Zhiqing, Deputy Director-General of the NLC, this year's delegation consisted of the following other four members: Mr. Wang Lei, Deputy Director, Legislative Reference Service Department, Ms. Wang Honglei, Director Assistant, National Center for Preservation and Conservation of Ancient Books; Ms. Long Wei, Department for Digital Resource and Service; and Ms. Wang Wei (interpreter), Acquisition and Cataloging Section for Oriental Languages, Foreign Languages Acquisition and Cataloging Department.

This year's program was as follows:

Opening Session (Keynote speech)	"The development and future of the National Library of China" Mr. Zhang Zhiqing (Deputy Director-General, NLC) "Major activities of the National Diet Library in the past year" Dr. Makoto Nagao (Librarian, NDL)
Session meeting I	Theme: Recovery from earthquake disasters "The Sichuan earthquake and post-quake recovery of libraries" Mr. Wang Lei (Deputy Director, Legislative Reference Service Department, NLC) "The Great East Japan Earthquake and materials preservation (restoration and disaster prevention)" Ms. Michiko Kawanabe (Director, Preservation Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department, NDL)
Session meeting II	Theme: Efforts for the digital library "Handing gems of the national archive on to the next generation in digital form —rare books and old materials of the National Library of China and development of the digital library" Ms. Long Wei (Department for Digital Resource and Service, NLC) "Overview of digitization of rare books and old materials" Mr. Akihiro Suzuki (Director, Humanities Division, Reader Services and Collections Department, NDL) "The NDL Search and machine translation system between Chinese, Japanese and Korean" Mr. Hideki Takeuchi (Acting Director, Digital Information Services Division, Digital Information Department )

Opening Session
(Keynote speech)

"The development and future of the National Library of China"
Mr. Zhang Zhiqing (Deputy Director-General, NLC)

"Major activities of the National Diet Library in the past year"
Dr. Makoto Nagao (Librarian, NDL)

Session meeting I

Theme: Recovery from earthquake disasters

"The Sichuan earthquake and post-quake recovery of libraries"
Mr. Wang Lei (Deputy Director, Legislative Reference Service Department, NLC)

"The Great East Japan Earthquake and materials preservation (restoration and disaster prevention)"
Ms. Michiko Kawanabe (Director, Preservation Division, Acquisitions and Bibliography Department, NDL)

Session meeting II

Theme: Efforts for the digital library

"Handing gems of the national archive on to the next generation in digital form —rare books and old materials of the National Library of China and development of the digital library"
Ms. Long Wei (Department for Digital Resource and Service, NLC)

"Overview of digitization of rare books and old materials"
Mr. Akihiro Suzuki (Director, Humanities Division, Reader Services and Collections Department, NDL)

"The NDL Search and machine translation system between Chinese, Japanese and Korean"
Mr. Hideki Takeuchi (Acting Director, Digital Information Services Division, Digital Information Department )

At the Opening Session, Mr. Zhang reported the NLC's recent new services such as the National Digital Library and expansion of the library building, and introduced future strategies. Dr. Nagao made a presentation on recent movements at the NDL, especially those focused on the digital library. In the Session meetings, both sides reported the recovery efforts of libraries from the Sichuan earthquake in China in May 2008 and the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011; and the digitization of rare and old materials and digital library services.

Photo of the Opening Session
Opening Session

In the latter part of the program, the delegation visited the Kansai-kan of the NDL. The whole program concluded with a Closing Session and the two libraries agreed to continue working together.

The delegation also participated in the Library Fair & Forum 2011, visited the Archives and Mausolea Department of the Imperial Household Agency, Seikado Bunko Art Museum and the Conservation Center for Cultural Properties of the Kyoto National Museum.

Reports of past programs in the NDL Newsletter

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