Chapter five: Library and me
In order to support the publishing of minor books, libraries are important customers and organizations. In fact, most books are published for libraries, not for individuals. This is why, I go to libraries everyday.
The orthodox function of libraries is to collect and preserve books.
They collect many genres of books systematically - to some extent -.
They have their own collection building policy, and choose which books to buy. So, publishers have to consider the policies of libraries.
Especially, most important libraries of all, are the University libraries, for minor books publishers. Because, the mission of University libraries is to collect academic books, which are always minor books.
After the World War II, University libraries in Japan had developed very much, corresponding to the growth of Japanese economy.
Two things can be pointed out. First, the number of universities and their libraries increased. Second, the budget of libraries increased.
And also, Japanese government encouraged libraries to buy many books, and gave them special grants.
Moreover, the existence of many regulations on Universities by the Ministry of Education, can not be ignored. Universities must reach the numerical goal of books they own, when a new school is built. Thus, the University libraries had to buy new books ,fitted to the scale.
The interesting point is that the government mainly weighed the quantitative goal, and didn’t care much for the quality of collected books.
The goal was not so hard and Universities could easily clear it. Their budgets were abundant by increasing income, which came from increasing number of students.
Especially in‘80s, strong Yen helped Japanese libraries collect many foreign books. For example, they bought a lot of antique foreign books.
Most famous book was the original of “Gutenberg Bible”, which was printed in about 1450. And, Keio University bought it for 800 billion yen!
I guess that it might be criticized by foreign countries, for Japanese libraries to buy a lot of rare books by the strong currency in those days.
Because many Japanese companies or individuals bought foreign lands, houses, buildings and so on at that time, mainly for investment, such deals were criticized strongly by foreigners.
Depending on the big budget and with the advantage of strong currency, the collection of Japanese Universities’ library became rich. However, the collection building had a problem.
We need specialists in a library, to collect books.
The specialists judge which books to get, or not. As I wrote above, a large number of books are published everyday, in the world.
Therefore, they must have a collection policy, based on their special knowledge.
However, Japanese librarian usually doesn’t have a collection building skill. Because, in Japanese university, it is a professor’s work, not a librarian’s work, to decide which books to buy.
Certainly professors are specialists in their own field, but they are not specialists for a library. Their knowledge is deep, but limited. Because the world of knowledge is larger than their field.
As the result, although librarians are not specialists for the written things in books, they can have the responsibility for the collection of books.
In western libraries, and maybe in other Asian libraries, librarians have an experience and knowledge to collect books, systematically and strategically.
But in Japan, it’s not enough.
When Japanese economy was going well, it was OK. Not now.
Because Japanese libraries have had an enough budget, they could collect almost everything, i.e. “Gutenberg Bible” etc. They didn’t have to choose books.
But, an economical situation in Japan has changed since ‘90s.
In the limited budget, libraries have to be selective in choosing books. However, as for the lack of the skills of choosing books, most libraries have not adjusted to the change of their situation.
* * * * *
I wrote about University library above. I think that it is facing a crisis and is on a turning point.
Other types of libraries are the same; School library and Public library.
School library means the library in a school, except for Universities.
Most of School libraries don’t have enough budget, and even librarians. Usually a teacher works in a library as a librarian. Of course, the job is not his or her main job, so it is difficult for students to get enough service there.
And the worse point is that, although School library is for the school, it is usually not related to the class in the school.
Teachers don’t use the library for their class. In other words, the library exists without the relation to the school’s education program. So, students come to the library for self-study or mainly for fun.
Of course, it is good to read a book in a library for their self-study or for their fun. But, when teachers don’t think seriously about a library for their educational use, nobody thinks the library should be richer.
Thus, actually, most of School libraries are poor in Japan.
Still now, many cities in Japan don’t have a public library, even though it is a very developed country. And the budget of public libraries is small, like School libraries.
Moreover, most of public libraries in Japan still can’t use Internet! So, IT skill of the librarians is very low. Now many publications are shifting from a paper version to an internet version: for example, dictionaries and newspapers. So, the luck of IT skill of librarians is fatal.
As I wrote above, librarian’s job has a specialty, originally. So, they can be respected as an information manager. But, Japanese doesn’t expect librarians so much. Our image of their job is always poor. We are thinking that their job is just to lend a book to a customer, sitting on a seat.
Our poor image of library does either help the budget problem, nor encourage librarians from growing up. On the other hand, their poor service doesn’t make us expect help from them. Therefore, the level of Japanese library is lower than other countries.
My job is to sell minor books. It needs high level customers who understand the importance or the utility of the books. So, now I am working to increase their level.
For example, recently a lot of libraries are outsourcing their service from private companies, including bookstore companies. So, I am making a collection-making plan for them, and arranging an opportunity to study high-level library service with IT.
Moreover, I organize a team of staffs to give customers many services directly. This is a very challenging job.
Of course, my contribution to Japanese library may be small and limited. And I am not certain of what kind of library is best for Japanese. But, I am sure that the people who have poor literacy can’t get along with different people in the world, so the best contribution I can give is to make Japanese libraries better.
