(25 Jun 2023) “Barefoot Gen,” which first appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1973, was adopted by libraries across Japan and became a library staple along with other study-related manga and Osamu Tezuka’s works, according to Emiko Takahashi, director of the Japan Library Association. School libraries began introducing manga in earnest in the 2000s. It…
(28 Jun 2023) As of June 28, 2023, the National Diet Library has added roughly 86,000 items to the National Diet Library Digital Collections, as detailed below. Collection Number of additional items Availability Newspapers 75,700 Only at the NDL Materials on the Allied Occupation of Japan 9,100 Primarily online, partially at the NDL Collections from Other Institutions 1,600…
(20 Jun 2023) NDL sponsored a webinar entitled “The Role of Libraries in Implementing Inclusive Information Society—Centered on the National Library for the Disabled”. The lecturer was Mr. Jang BoSeong from the National Library for the Disabled (NLD) of the Republic of Korea. The webinar consisted of a lecture followed by a Q&A session.…
(22 Apr 2023) Six out of 19 Japanese universities surveyed by the Mainichi Shimbun have expressed views or set guidelines for their students on using interactive artificial intelligence (AI) including the ChatGPT chatbot, now being adopted for a rapidly expanding list of applications. The Mainichi has the news in full.
(28 Feb 2023) Tokyo-based architecture studio Hiroshi Nakamura and NAP has recently completed a captivating subterranean library. Dubbed Underground Library, the new reading space can be found beneath a grassy knoll located on the Kurkku Fields sustainable farm in Chiba, Japan. The innovative project was designed to offer patrons a reflective literature experience, while sitting…
(9 Jan 2023) Wiley announced remarkable growth of an open access agreement in Japan by increasing from four to 18 participating institutions. Based on the success of the initial agreement by four Japanese institutions in 2022, a new agreement between Wiley and JUSTICE (Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources) allows 14 new universities…
(21 Nov 2022) Springer Nature is announcing what it says is the largest transformative agreement in Japan, comprising the engagement of 10 institutions that will generate the open-access of close to 900 articles in the coming year. The University of Tokyo is among the institutions participating in the accord, and the program will allow…
(17 Nov 2022) Oxford University Press (OUP), has today announced a transformative three-year Read and Publish agreement with major journals consortium, the Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources (JUSTICE). Under the agreement, members of the JUSTICE consortium that opt-in will be able to rapidly increase the proportion of articles that they publish open…
(4 Nov 2022) Librarians around Japan are raising concerns their independence may be in jeopardy after the education ministry asked them to stock more books about North Korea’s abductions of Japanese nationals. Following the Cabinet Secretariat’s instructions, the education ministry sent a document to public and school libraries, asking them to help maintain public attention…
(29 Oct 2022) Elementary, junior high and high school students who have used e-books tend to find paper books easier to read, according to a recent survey conducted by the Japan School Library Association. The annual survey is conducted to determine reading trends among students. A total of 14,091 students enrolled at 161 schools nationwide,…