Report on the Meeting of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources

 

Library of Congress
Mumford Room, Madison Building
January 13-14, 2006

Copies of the Reports made at the January 2006 NCC Meeting can be found by clicking the relevant links.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Present: Officers: Chair Toshie Marra, University of California, Los Angeles; Chair-Elect Tokiko Bazzell, University of Hawaii, Manoa; Executive Committee Members Kenji Niki, University of Michigan; and Michael Smitka, Washington and Lee University; Executive Director Victoria Bestor, NCC/ Harvard University; Council Members: Sharon Domier, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Susan Matisoff, University of California, Berkeley; Thaddeus Ohta (representing Hwa-Wei Lee, Library of Congress representative); Leonard Schoppa, University of Virginia (alternate for Laura Hein, Japan Foundation American Advisory Committee representative); Tomoko Steen, Library of Congress; Syun Tutiya, Chiba University (Japan Liaison); Samuel Yamashita, Pomona College (NEAC representative); Keiko Yokota-Carter, University of Washington (CEAL representative). Observers: Eiichi Ito, Kio Kanda, Philip Melzer, Hisako Rogerson, Hiroshi Suzuki, Sayuri Umeda, Mi Chu Wiens, and Laura Wong, Library of Congress; Kristopher Kersey and Keiji Shono, Japan Foundation, New York; Margaret Mihori, Japan-US Friendship Commission. Absent: Mary Jackson, Association of Research Libraries; Eiko Sakaguchi, University of Maryland

NCC Chair Toshie Marra brought the meeting to order and asked Library of Congress Representative Thaddeus Ohta to introduce Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian of Congress for Library Services. Dr. Marcum welcomed the Council to the Library and spoke of her long association with Japan particularly through the Kanazawa Institute of Technology's annual seminar which she has been a part of since 1991. In 2005 she was delighted to be given an honorary doctorate by KIT for her many contributions to the seminar. At that time she gave a speech on the subject of "Can we create a world library?." She was pleased to note that since her talk a number of developments have taken place which bring that idea closer to reality. These include: the Google Library Initiative, the Open Content Alliance out-of-copyright digitization efforts, recent EU initiatives, and a grant of $3 million received by LC to develop world resources. All of these suggest that the concept she proposed is moving forward quickly.

Margaret Mihori, Assistant Executive Director, spoke on behalf of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC). Her report on Commission activities during the last six months especially emphasized the declining interest rates that are now available on Commission investments which have resulted in small cuts in grant applications, across-the-board. Thus a reduction of ¥500,000 funding in Multi-Volume Sets Project which began in 2005/06 fiscal year is expected to apply to future NCC applications as well. She also mentioned that the next CULCON meeting will take place in Bozeman, Montana in July. It was also announced that the NCC will be applying for a three-year grant in the next round due on March 1, 2006.

Toshie added that when Tokiko Bazzell, Victoria Bestor, and she met JUSFC Executive Director Eric Gangloff on the previous day, he suggested that the Council should revise the NCC's mission statement which was adopted in February 1992 under the first chair Amy Heinrich. The Executive Committee will work on the mission statement revision as a future project.

The Japan Foundation report took place on Saturday morning and is summarized later in this report.

Reports of NCC Representatives from Collaborating Organizations and Constituencies

The Library of Congress (LC) report, given by Thaddeus Ohta, Coordinator of the Japanese Area Team, focused on six accomplishments: 1) the Library's Unicode upgrade on the OPAC which was completed in November 2005; 2) the digitization project in collaboration with Nichibunken which involved the scanning of the 60-volume set of the 1654 edition of Genji Monogatari; 3) an overview of the visit of Ryozo Kato, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, on December 7, 2005 when he spoke on "Japan-U.S Relations: The Key to Peace, Democracy and Stability in Asia;" 4) LC's Asian Division librarian Eiichi Ito's participation in two NCC E-Resources workshops, one held at the University of Maryland and the other at the Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA) meeting; 5) a brief discussion about the lecture "Innovation in the preservation of Digital Archives of Valuable Cultural Properties" given by Hitachi Ltd. on November 9, 2005; and 6) an overview of the six most recent literary acquisitions from Japan. Members of the LC staff also demonstrated various resources that can be accessed via LC: Eiichi Ito on the OPAC's Unicode version, the Nara Ehon files, and the Prints and Photograph's Database; Tomoko Steen on databases available related to Japan; and Thaddeus Ohta on the Global Gateway and digital images of Ino Tadataka's historical maps, all materials available at LC. An inquiry was made whether the digital maps would be linked to other Ino map sites on the web. Tomoko Steen agreed to convey that inquiry to LC's Map Division.

In Mary Jackson's absence no report was given on behalf of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Mary sent the ARL report, also distributed at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, to Council members on January 17. An online version of "Report on Selected ARL Activities" may be found at http:/www.arl.org/arl/ala06report.html. The Council also received the announcement from Bernard Reilly, President, Center for Research Libraries (CRL) regarding the appointment of James Simon as Program Director for the Global Resources Network which as of January 1, 2006 was relocated from ARL to CRL.

Leonard Schoppa, representative of the Japan Foundation American Advisory Committee (JF-AAC) gave a brief report. Following the NCC meeting the Japan Foundation Library Support Program Advisory Committee (JFLSPAC) will review applications in advance of the AAC meeting which will take place later in the month in Los Angeles. He noted that the strongest library applications are in the B-1 category this year. Kenji Niki, a JFLSPAC member, expressed his opinion that research libraries with large-size Japanese collections should be discouraged from applying in the B-1 category or to the Japan Foundation Library Support Program in general. The Council suggested that the JFLSPAC discuss this issue at its committee meeting. Sharon Domier raised a question about whether there are any librarians who review applications for research proposals. Considering the current information environment in the US and Japan, she noted that a stated need to use a library in Japan may no longer be a strong justification for funding since resources are so widely available between the two countries through the Global ILL Framework and other avenues. Reviewers with knowledge of the latest developments in the information environment should be considered for membership in the review team. It was agreed that the question should be referred to the Japan Foundation American Advisory Committee for further discussion.

Samuel Yamashita, representative of the Northeast Asia Council of the AAS (NEAC) made NEAC's request that the NCC try not to plan January Council meeting during the first week to increase the probability that faculty representatives will be present. Council members asked that NEAC include a report on their most recent grants round in future reports because the NEAC grants are deemed to be a particularly good indicator of new research trends and emerging areas scholarship in the field of which librarians should be aware.

Japan Liaison, Syun Tutiya, discussed notable activities at Japanese libraries and related institutions since his last report. First he commented on changes in budget allocations since Hojinka and noted that library funding streams have changed requiring librarians to spend more time advocating for support on their campuses and less time being librarians. He reported on recent retirements and transfers in the top ranks of Japanese university libraries and noted that 2007 will see the retirement of the largest cohort of top librarians which will result in a major generational change and a loss of senior leaders in the field. He also discussed recent developments at NDL, NII, and with regard to copyright issues. He concluded with an update on the Global ILL Framework, which will be discussed further in the report of the ILL/DD Committee.

Following lunch, Philip Melzer, President-Elect of CEAL, and Acting Chief, Regional Cooperative Cataloging Division, Library of Congress, discussed plans for his coming term as president and provided details about CEAL's upcoming Pre-Conference prior to the IFLA meeting in Seoul in August 2006. He will begin his two-year term as CEAL President following the coming AAS Meetings in April. One of the projects he hopes to promote during his term is an Asian cataloging internship to be offered jointly with the Library of Congress. Such an internship would be expected to last approximately 3 months and could vary from year to year focusing on different subjects and language areas. He is currently exploring possibilities for funding either within LC or externally. The Library's Kluge program and the Freeman Foundation were suggested as possible sources of support. He also hopes to make CEAL more attractive to new members by promoting the Mentor/Mentee program and organizing roundtables on special topics.

Keiko Yokota-Carter, representative for the Council on East Asian Libraries of the AAS (CEAL), discussed plans for the coming Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM) meeting at AAS. CJM is trying to reach out to librarians internationally. In addition to reports from NDL and Nichibunken, this year's CJM meeting will include an international panel on digital resources with Ellen Hammond, Head of the East Asian Library at Yale University; Antony Boussemart, Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient; Osamu Inoue, Head, Library Division, Academic Information Department, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology Library; and representing the vendors, Daikichi Mitake of Kinokuniya Inc.

Reports from NCC Committee and Task Forces

NCC Committee reports began with Toshie Marra, Tokiko Bazzell and Victoria Bestor, who discussed the status, success and ongoing work associated with the E-Resources Training Initiatives. Vickey discussed the feedback received from the 16 E-Resources workshops offered to date in all regions of the US and in Canada attended by 300 trainees. Two additional workshops are planned during the course of the current Japan Foundation fiscal year (JFFY), which ends on March 31, 2006. She provided the committee with preliminary details on the strengths of the workshop formats and discussed recommendations for future workshops to be held in the next year if further Japan Foundation funding is received. Tokiko Bazzell provided the group with a brief demonstration of the beta-site of the new E-Resources web page which will be linked to the NCC website and completed by the end of the current JFFY. The report ended with a brief report on the Year 3 plans for E-Resources training and web development. That grant request is currently pending from the Japan Foundation.

With Tokiko Bazzell's assumption of the NCC Chair-Elect's position she will be stepping down as coordinator of the E-Resources Webpage. Yoko Okunishi, NCC's bilingual librarian program associate, will continue to staff the project working closely with NCC webmaster Brigid Laffey. The Council suggested Dawn Lawson, East Asian Studies Librarian at NYU, as an excellent candidate to replace Tokiko as the webpage content coordinator. The Council recommended the creation of a task force of librarians who would share the responsibilities for maintaining and expanding the web page, and would also take the lead on researching and developing the basic prototypes for online tutorials, currently proposed by the NCC for Year 3 funding, if received from the Japan Foundation.

Tomoko Steen presented the report from the Digital Resources Committee. She said that the Japanese translation of the guidelines produced by the DRC to educate vendors on North American library needs would be completed very soon to match the English version completed last year. There will also be sample contracts made available and posted on the DRC webpage. The problems of gaining access to Japanese newspapers were again discussed. The welcome addition of some Japanese language newspapers to the Factiva database was appreciated by members. Problems with access to digital materials produced by Nikkei and Asahi continue but there is some room for optimism. It was suggested that it would be helpful if a meeting for librarians and Japanese vendors is organized to discuss various problems together. The best venue for that might be the annual conference of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) in the US and/or the Library Forums and Fair in Japan. Professor Tutiya mentioned that he might be able to assist in organizing such events.

MVS Co-Chair Susan Matisoff presented the Multi-Volume Sets (MVS) Project report focused on the recently completed MVS application pre-screening process. This year prescreening yielded 29 applications from 11 different institutions. Three of the institutions submitting applications were first time applicants (Indiana, Florida and UC Santa Barbara). 52% of the applications submitted were titles with no other holdings in North America, 24% were for titles with one other holding in North America, and the other 24% were for titles with more than one other holdings in North America, the latter of which would not qualify for MVS consideration.

No report was given by Japan Project Advisory Committee.

The ILL/DD Committee report was given by Sharon Domier, Committee Co-Chair who outlined the challenges and accomplishments that the committee faced in 2005, and she outlined the committee's plans for 2006. The committee's primary challenge last year was presented by the platform change undertaken by OCLC. After that change the GIF project became non-functional because the new server was not compatible with the ILL ISO Protocol used to send requests between OCLC and NII. That problem persisted from early June through the middle of November. The ILL/DD committee intervened to smooth out misunderstandings between OCLC and NII, established a contact person at OCLC to troubleshoot future issues, and established a Google Group for US participants in the GIF project to communicate more effectively. Chiaki Sakai is overseeing management of the Google Group.

The committee's biggest challenge in 2006 is to increase the number of institutions participating in GIF in North America. To that end the committee has decided to find two new ILL librarians to serve on the committee, replacing two who will step down. As of January 1, 2006, there were 48 North American GIF participants and 123 in Japan. The committee also hopes to develop an alternative payment scheme to be implemented when the system is down, to make improvements to the guide for practitioners, and to have all ILL/DD committee members available to help recruit new GIF project participants. Sharon pointed out the need of providing more user training on GIF, and the Council agreed to publish a GIF project brochure and have it available for the AAS Meetings in April 2006.

The Council also discussed the overall administration of the GIF project which has been functioning very well under the joint administration of the NCC's ILL/DD Committee and the GIF Project Team, Committee on International Scholarly Communication, Japan Association of National University Libraries (JANUL). They together recommended that GIF should become a fully independent project. This proposal led to a discussion of the AAU/ARL/NCC Japan Project which has been the administrative umbrella under which the GIF project has operated. Determining that the GIF Project was ready for independence, the Council found no need to continue the Japan Project per se and voted to disband the NCC's Japan Project Advisory Committee subject to approval by Eiko Sakaguchi, the committee co-chair who was absent from the meeting. The Council also voted to declare the GIF project fully independent as a joint project of the NCC's ILL/DD Committee and the Japan side's GIF working group in collaboration with OCLC and NII. The question was also raised as to whether the NCC and the GIF Working Group should exchange a Memorandum of Understanding similar to the one that the NCC and the National Institute of Informatics exchanges every three years. Professor Tutiya expressed the view that such an exchange would likely be beneficial to both sides and he will discuss it with his colleagues in Japan for further pursuit.

No written report was given by the AskEASL Advisory Committee, however, Sharon Domier, provided a brief update on the committee's status. AskEASL continues at a normal rate with a predictable flux in the volume of questions received. Participation, both by questioners and expert librarians, continues to be international in scope. Plans were also discussed for the creation of an AskEASL brochure.

The Japan Art Catalog Project written report was received from Reiko Yoshimura, Director of Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art Library, Curator of the JAC Asian Art Collection. Reiko reported on her October visit to the new Japan Art Catalog Project managers. They are preparing for the new museum and library which will house the holdings of the Japan Art Catalog Project in Tokyo. Reiko also reported that the total number of catalogs received since 1996 totals 4,297 and the number of ILL requests processed this year was 22, bringing the total processed since 1996 to 94. 70% of the ILL requests fulfilled were for modern art titles.

Victoria Bestor provided an update on changes in the Western Art Depository and announced that Columbia University's Avery Architectural and Art Library will become the home for the Western Art Depository with cataloging assistance provided by the staff of Columbia's CV Starr East Asian Library. She also reported on efforts to resume the JAC II Project which will send the first new shipment of Japanese Art Exhibition Catalogs from the US to the new facility in Tokyo prior to its opening at the National Art Center, Tokyo, in early 2007.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

The session on Saturday morning began with a report from the Japan Foundation. Deputy Director General Keiji Shono (New York Office) reported on the coming Japan Foundation American Advisory Committee Meeting to take place for the first time in Los Angeles. On behalf of both the New York and Tokyo offices he spoke briefly about the future of the Japan Foundation Library which is temporarily closed for renovation and will tentatively be renamed the Japan Foundation Information Resource Center, to reopen in April 2006. He also mentioned that in the future the Japan Foundation wants to focus more on the Japanese public in addition to scholars. That is the main reason for the expansion of the library's focus. He recognized the concerns expressed by many scholars and librarians that this change might lead to the loss of important library functions and he noted that the New York office has forwarded comments to that effect to the Tokyo office. Due to the expression of foreign and scholarly concerns, the plan has been changed somewhat and research functions of the library will be preserved. 10% of the books currently held by the library will be relocated to other Japan Foundation libraries such as those in Urawa or to Japan Foundation overseas offices or will be discarded. In addition, the library will have some new activities and the allocation of resources among new and old functions is not yet clear.

The ongoing need for the JSIST program was also discussed. Mr. Shono noted that the admissions policy was changed at the last minute to include a small number of trainees from North America and Europe. That format is expected to continue for the next two years. He thanked the NCC for its continued support. This year, applications were received in September, perhaps the most hectic time for Japanese studies librarians. Council members expressed the hope that next year the application time might return to summer as it has been in the past. Mr. Shono said that since it is not expected that the program will change in the next couple of years he expects that they will be able to ask the NCC to seek applications earlier this coming year.

He also noted that the Japan Foundation has launched an effort to assist the libraries damaged or destroyed during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. For example, Dillard University lost its entire small collection of Japanese books and the Japan Foundation is expected to assist them with replacement. He also commented that of even greater impact to Japanese studies in that region has been the firing of Japanese language teachers at institutions damaged by the hurricanes. The JF Los Angeles office is asking Tokyo to offer assistance in helping such language instructors to keep their jobs or to find new ones.

NEAC representative Samuel Yamashita noted that he had been one of the faculty members on the NCC when it was founded in the early 90s. At that time one of the NCC's biggest concerns was the pending retirements of a generation of librarians and fears about the availability of trained librarians to take their place. Sharon Domier noted that indeed the numbers of Japan specialist librarians have been cut, perhaps almost in half. In the past, substantial collections had both a bibliographer and a cataloger, but increasingly librarians either serve both functions, or one cataloger may handle all CJK cataloging. She also spoke of there being a more diverse range of backgrounds among librarians today. Those working as Japanese studies librarians now include a smaller number of Japanese natives educated and trained in Japan. There are now both more non-Japanese in the field and a growing number of foreign-educated native Japanese librarians who come to the field with a different set of needs than those in past generations. For example librarians who have not studied in Japanese universities may need some kind of training to help them in advising their faculty and students on using Japanese university libraries. Therefore, the Japan Foundation program (JSIST) is more important than ever because it offers both training and networking connections.

Toshie Marra also spoke to the need of those who have previously received JSIST training to get some sort of a refresher course to keep their knowledge up to date. She noted that each year the JSIST trainees make a presentation at the NCC Open Meeting and publish their report both in JEAL and on the NCC website. These efforts are very helpful for everyone, however resources change very fast and one can quickly become out of date.

In further answer to Samuel Yamashita's question, Victoria Bestor noted other NCC initiatives in librarian training, especially the 2002 Junior Japanese Studies Librarians Professional Training Seminar (JLTS), and the T-3 (Training the Trainers) information literacy instruction workshops. Those and other programs are examples of the NCC's ongoing support of librarian training going back to the early days of the NCC.

Michael Smitka pointed out that there is a growing number of PhDs becoming East Asian studies librarians who possess the academic disciplinary training but not necessarily a library and information studies background. Sharon Domier reiterated the importance of the networks and introductions offered by the JSIST program which especially benefit librarians such as those who come to the field from different backgrounds. She also noted that the NCC itself plays an important role in providing introductions to librarians.

Sharon also pointed out the importance of funders such as Japan Foundation and NEAC in providing small travel grants to librarians as well as to scholars. For example the Japan Foundation's small grants program could be very beneficial in providing librarians with the opportunity for independent research and networking of great benefit to the field. It was also suggested that it would be extremely beneficial if NEAC tried to fund one or two librarians each year. It was further suggested that NEAC and the NCC should explore the collaborative creation of programs to fund librarian professional development travel to Japan. NEAC and the NCC both receive major funding from the JUSFC and the Commission has indicated that they like to see grantees collaborating in ways that produce such a value added.

Another survey of librarian's background and needs throughout the field was suggested. However any such efforts await further evaluation of the data collected by Patricia Steinhoff for the ongoing Japan Foundation Survey of the Field of Japanese Studies in the US and Canada, as discussed in the last NCC working meeting.

Japan Liaison Syun Tutiya also voiced the need for training among younger librarians in Japan and spoke briefly about the need for offering short courses of perhaps two-months training for such librarians.

Following up on Professor Tutiya's comment, Toshie Marra mentioned that various kinds of training have been offered both for foreign librarians and for librarians in Japan. These include the training offered by the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) or 国文学研究資料館 such as the Rare Books Workshop next week at NIJL that Eiichi Ito will attend. The Committee on Japanese Materials also has the Subcommittee on Japanese Rare Books which takes some role in communication with Japanese institutions related to this area. Toshie added that in the US there are workshops that can be attended by librarians as well as other members of the field including the Kambun workshop at USC and the Komonjo and Kuzushiji workshop at UBC.

Toshie then drew the Council's attention to the report by Sachie Noguchi which introduces a similar but more comprehensive, multi-year workshop project proposed to take place at the Tenri Central Library (the Tenri Workshop). When it appeared that the Japan Foundation would not admit G-8 librarians to JSIST, discussions began about other possible venues for advanced training took place at the 2005 European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) meeting which Sachie Noguchi attended.

Toshie noted that some might be surprised to see Sachie Noguchi listed as the chair of a librarian training committee that has not yet been established by the NCC. Toshie said that concerns about the future of the JSIST program and about alternate means such as the Tenri Workshop led to the idea that it might be useful for the NCC to have a committee dedicated to assisting with librarian training broadly construed. Currently all the NCC committees that advocate for librarian training have a specific focus such as that of training junior librarians (JLTS) or information literacy training (T-3). Perhaps, she suggested, there should be a standing NCC committee that focuses broadly on librarian training issues as a whole. The goal of that committee would be to keep tabs on the most important training needs among North American librarians and to play a general mentoring role.

As Toshie noted, Sachie Noguchi was one of the co-chairs of the Junior Librarians Training Committee which has not been active since 2002. Toshie therefore proposed that a new committee be created with a mandate to promote overall librarian training with Sachie Noguchi as one of the co-chairs. Sharon Domier suggested that because the committee will focus on continuing education for librarians, which is different from training, it should be called the Librarian Professional Development Committee. Sharon also suggested that perhaps another role the committee should undertake would be to write letters of introductions for junior librarians who are making visits to Japan. Another possible role for the committee might be to assist colleagues in writing their own grant applications for NEAC or for short term Japan Foundation applications to enable librarians to take part in individual research and/or network-building, and also to take part in more specialized training workshops than those that might fall under the NCC's umbrella, such as the NIJL rare books workshop or that proposed at Tenri. It was suggested that an important part of such a committee's role should be to take a strong mentoring role within the field. NEAC representative Samuel Yamashita said that he would raise the idea of NEAC's providing more support to librarians at the next NEAC meeting in early April.

Toshie Marra asked the Council's blessing on the creation of a new committee to be called the Librarian Professional Development Committee (LPDC). The committee will provide an umbrella for librarian training initiatives including junior librarian training, specialized training such as that offered at T-3, will assist with the JSIST Project, and will serve as a point of communication with the Council about other possible collaborative efforts to provide training in Japan and elsewhere and to mentor junior librarians entering the field.

Toshie then asked if the Council had reached a consensus on the need for this new Librarian Professional Development Committee and whether Sachie Noguchi should be asked to co-chair the committee; which the Council supported. In addition, there needs to be a librarian co-chair from within the NCC. Eiko Sakaguchi's name was suggested, but in her absence it was agreed that she should be consulted before being officially appointed, she has since agreed. Sharon Domier also pointed out the need for having a strong representation of young librarians on the committee.

A question was asked to the Japan Foundation about the Japanese literature in translation database. Some wonder if it is acceptable for translators themselves to forward their own translations for inclusion in the database. Mr. Shono offered to consult Japan Foundation colleagues in the Tokyo office on this question. It was suggested that the answer and procedures should be posted on J-Lit (the Japanese literature electronic list). Susan Matisoff, speaking on behalf of the field of Japanese literature, emphasized the need for the database to be as complete and comprehensive as possible. Mr. Shono noted that the original data was provided by the Japan PEN Club but he was not sure of the role that the Japan PEN Club may wish to take in future expansion of the database. Members stressed their concern that the translation database not be another project with great potential that is allowed to die because it is not kept up. Members offered to assist in providing whatever advocacy with the Japan PEN Club, the Japan Foundation, etc. to keep the very valuable translation database current.

Tokiko Bazzell spoke of her meetings in Japan with both Mr. Oshima of Japan Foundation and with colleagues at NDL who expressed concern over the disparity in background among the 2005 group of JSIST participants. NDL colleagues noted that the materials currently being used for the program were developed for more seasoned librarians than individuals currently coming from other Asian countries, many of whom are Japanese language teachers. She noted that colleagues at NDL wonder if the current format will continue or not. Mr. Shono noted that his information regarding plans to continue the current format for three years dated to just before the 2005 JSIST program began, and he can only assume that the plan is to continue in the same way for the next two years, as originally planned. He promised to report back when evaluations of the 2005 JSIST program become available.

Mr. Shono also spoke about the changes brought to the Japan Foundation by Hojinka. He noted that the Japan Foundation, like university libraries, needs to engage in extensive public relations efforts to insure their future funding. He encouraged the NCC to continue to promote and publicize the Japan Foundation's support of its activities including to consular officials at various locations in the US.

NCC Administrative Reports

The NCC Executive Committee report was given by Toshie Marra and Michael Smitka. Toshie Marra began by reporting on the process for JSIST candidate screening and sought the Council's advice on whether future NCC chairs should continue to chair the JSIST selection committee. It was noted that with the creation of a new professional development committee, perhaps that committee should review candidates and make recommendations to the NCC Executive Committee which serves as the NCC's nominating committee. Then, as in the past, the NCC Chair and/or Executive Director would be asked to write the NCC's recommendation to the Japan Foundation.

Toshie then reported on other activities undertaken by the Executive Committee including the selection of two replacement members for the Japan Foundation Library Support Program Advisory Committee, Eiko Sakaguchi of University of Maryland (currently on the NCC) and Setsuko Noguchi of the University of Illinois. She also proposed a strategy to restore a more gradual rotation to the committee by asking Eiko to serve 2 years on the committee and Setsuko to serve for 3 years.

To conduct the discussion of NCC bylaw revisions, Toshie turned the meeting over to Michael Smitka. The Council reviewed the text of the bylaws which were projected on a screen. The changes to the bylaws were presented in turn, discussed, and approved. A print out of the revised bylaws was then circulated and Council members were asked to sign the approved copy for inclusion in the NCC's archives. The newly revised NCC Bylaws are available on the website at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/bylaws.html.

Toshie also reported on her recent role in the review of the grant renewal proposal of the Korean Collections Consortium of North America to the Korea Foundation. Tokiko Bazzell outlined the collaborative support the University of Hawaii has provided to match recent Korea Foundation support. Each year KF gives Hawaii $30K for book purchases which is matched by UH's Center for Korean Studies with $10K which is then supported by the university library with a ½ time staff position to handle the collection. The discussion of the Korean Collections Consortium again raised the question of MVS's requirement of free ILL. A critical point that was made was whether it is possible to police whether or not the free ILL provision is observed. Sharon Domier pointed out that in institutions with Japanese studies faculty that have made the decision not to substantially build their own Japanese language collection, such as her own, it is a given that there is a substantial budget for ILL. She estimated that the ILL budget for the University of Massachusetts is on the order of $80,000 a month. Toshie summed up the discussion by referring back to Amy Heinrich's comment (in answer to an email on this questions) that we should continue with the free ILL policy unchanged. Kenji Niki pointed out that the books involved in the Korean consortium's cooperative collection are of a much more general nature and must be highly in demand throughout the field. MVS volumes on the other hand are by design very specialized and not likely to circulate at such a rate. If the Korean consortium can continue to require free ILL for their collection, MVS should continue to do the same. Susan Matisoff reiterated her willingness to talk informally with Amy Heinrich, Vice Chair of the JUSFC, to get their informal reaction. In her discussion she will point out to the Commission that increasingly as ILL processing is handled centrally it is cost inefficient to have this provision, which may not be fully observed, may not be enforceable, and may prevent institutions from applying for MVS if they know they cannot comply with that rule. Sharon Domier pointed out that by far the more important factor about MVS is that all its materials must be available through ILL, free or not, it is the circulation factor that is more important to the field.

Victoria Bestor provided a brief update on the NCC Publications and Public Information efforts outlining plans for the new annual version of the NCC Newsletter which the Council endorsed at the previous meeting. She outlined the new schedule and format for the annual edition which will be produced prior to the AAS meetings. She also discussed new additions to the NCC website and the final draft of the NCC Council Handbook. Members were encouraged to send any further comments or suggestions on the handbook to her by the end of January. She also noted that now that the bylaws have been revised, the Executive Committee's next job is to redraft the NCC's one-page mission statement. Vickey distributed the NCC's Half-Yearly Budget Report which summarized administrative expenditures over the last six months. She also discussed plans for applying to the JUSFC for a three-year grant.

Administrative reports concluded with Tokiko Bazzell's Report of the NCC Chair-Elect Advance Activities Visiting NCC-Related Agencies and Organizations in Japan this fall. She began by thanking past chair Sachie Noguchi for having accompanied her on those visits and for providing introductions. There were two specific points she wanted to raise. Tokiko noted that every former national institution she visited repeated the same theme, that in the new regime their activities are being evaluated by measurable outcomes, for example museum attendance statistics. The Japan Foundation is in the same category. Mr. Oshima at the Japan Foundation proposed three ways that colleagues can help the Foundation to demonstrate the impact of JF funding support and to illustrate how it strengthens Japanese studies in North America in more visible ways. Those three are: 1) Scholarly product is of course important, but still they are looking for more visible ways (TV, web pages, newspapers and newsletters). It would be wonderful if there was more "press" that expressed the Japan Foundation's importance; 2) They wanted to hear the voices of all stakeholders in all areas, librarians, faculty, students, the public; and 3) promoting local Japanese consulate support was also very valuable. She noted that the Japanese government is very aware of the recent positive PR in the states on China and Korea. We as stakeholders should be mentioning to the consulate the importance of Japan Foundation support in advancing Japan's visibility. She mentioned having heard similar comments from the National Diet Library, which has a new and vastly improved portal, which she briefly demonstrated.

New Business, Future Meetings, Projects and Discussion Items:

The Council discussed plans for the 2006 Open Meeting which will take place from 7:00 pm on April 7, 2006 in the Yerba Buena Salon 10-11 at the San Francisco Marriott. Toshie Marra asked the Council for specific program suggestions. Following the discussion it was agreed that the main components of the meeting should include: the DRC session of 45 minutes, which will include a discussion and information exchange about licensing issues. Tokiko Bazzell was asked to talk about strategic planning for public relations to assist Japanese counterpart organizations in the post-hojinka era as it is an important skill that Japanese studies librarians should develop. It was also suggested that a brief presentation by Ikuo Sasakawa of the University of Tokyo Library might be included in addition to an update on GIF. There will also be a section on the Japan Foundation's Japan Studies Information Specialist Training (JSIST) Program given by Dawn Lawson and Fabiano Rocha the US and Canadian participants in the 2005 program. The question was raised about whether some of the instructors who gave E-Resources Workshops should present but there was some objection to that idea in favor of a briefer and more open discussion on the subject. Since the meeting is scheduled for Friday evening and many people have other plans it was suggested that all presentations should be succinct. If possible, it was also suggested that there be specific times announced for given parts of the meeting so that people can go and come. It was reiterated that the open meeting is an important time for the audience to speak up and that announcements and straight presentations should be kept to a minimum to allow more time for audience members to ask questions and propose new ideas.

Mr. Shono of the Japan Foundation noted that their reception will run from 9 to 11 overlapping with the NCC meeting. It was suggested that a GIF poster session or information table should be included in the Japan Foundation reception.

Toshie Marra introduced the preliminary plan being drafted by the Tenri Central Library for a Practical Workshop for Overseas Librarians on Early Japanese Books at Tenri University (the Tenri Workshop), and she encouraged any librarians who might be interested in the workshops to contact Sachie Noguchi.

Toshie noted that the initial idea of the Tenri Workshop was proposed by Professor Hideo Yamanaka of Tenri University as an alternative to the JSIST program. The planning group agreed to continue to study the feasibility of the Tenri Workshop despite the reversal of the Japan Foundation's stance on JSIST participants. In December 2005 members of that group met with Japan Foundation representatives in Tokyo. At that time, they were advised that Izumi Tytler of Oxford University should take the lead in representing the workshop and in submitting a proposal to the Japan Foundation. The Foundation also noted that it would not fund the entire amount for the workshop and that additional funding should be sought from sources other than the Japan Foundation.

Toshie noted that tentative plans for the workshops envision a three-year project with one week each year focused on specific topics related to rare books. The plan would be to hold the workshops at Tenri Central Library and it is expected that the first year would be more focused on basic cataloging with subsequent years focused on more advanced topics such as conservation and preservation. The planners are tentatively thinking that the first workshop might take place in June or July 2007.

It was agreed that the Fall NCC meeting will take place at the University of Maryland, tentatively on September 22nd and 23rd, 2006. Eiko Sakaguchi will serve as meeting host and hopes to arrange other activities in conjunction with the meeting. It was also agreed that the January 2007 working meeting will be hosted by Keiko Yokota-Carter of the University of Washington. It is expected to take place in Seattle on January 12th and 13th, 2007. In addition, Susan Matisoff again expressed her wish to host the January 2008 meeting at UC Berkeley shortly after the opening of their new East Asian Library.

In the time that remained Toshie suggested that since there will be a new chair coming in, it is a good time to review accomplishments on the priorities established at the Year 2000 Conference, to think about which items have been completed, and to review current priorities. Toshie also noted that two days before she, Tokiko and Vickey had discussed the prospect of offering a future such conference with Eric Gangloff of the JUSFC which funded the Year 2000 Conference. Eric encouraged the NCC to bring them a proposal for such a conference in a few years, with a target date of in approximately 2010, accordingly it would be expected that the NCC might convene a planning committee in two or three years, approximately 2 years before such a conference might take place. Toshie mentioned the importance of planning in advance however both Susan Matisoff and Tomoko Steen noted the speed with which things change as a factor in timing such efforts. Toshie suggested that a good way to start might be to conduct a survey to get collective input from the field. Toshie noted that during the three years she has been chair the driving priority has been the E-Resources initiative training. To help the Council think about any major priorities that remained in need of attention she asked Vickey to review the recommendations of Year 2000.

Vickey began her review by drawing the Council's attention to the June 2000 document labeled Mapping Strategies (see Year 2000 Conference, in meeting reports). For those new to the NCC since the Year 2000 Conference Vickey provided a brief recap; the conference took place just prior to the 2000 AAS meetings in San Diego and was a full two-day conference attended by 102 people including Japanese and East Asian studies librarians from the US, Canada, Japan and Europe; faculty from various fields and institutional types; the head University Librarians from UC San Diego, University of Illinois, and Cornell University; a large number of colleagues, information providers, and vendors from Japan; and funder representatives from the Japan Foundation and the JUSFC. The conference took place a decade after NCC's founding to assess the success of past initiatives and to set priorities for the coming decade. The conference reinforced the NCC's mandate to serve the field as broadly as possible. Especially noted were the growing needs of the many under-served scholars and students in institutions that do not have specialist librarians in the field and may not have adequate print or digital resources in Japanese or related to Japan. Since 2000 the priorities identified at the conference have been the driving force behind NCC activities.

Toshie asked Vickey to review the document circulated and to answer any questions Council members might have. It was noted that the Conference identified13 areas of need, some of which were determined to be outside the scope of the NCC's major areas of focus or expertise and others that would be appropriate for the NCC to undertake. Following the outline of that memo, Vickey began by discussing NCC projects then underway and other initiatives identified as priorities for the field and appropriate for the NCC.

The NCC's Multi-Volume Sets Project was enthusiastically endorsed by conferees who also felt that MVS warranted a review to evaluate its effectiveness. A review committee was set up directly after the conference. That review was concluded and produced the first rough database of past NCC grants, which has since been upgraded by NCC staff into a fully searchable database providing URL links to holding information for materials in the MVS national collection. The review also suggested the creation of an MVS Handbook which was subsequently created and became the model for the much larger Council Handbook, about to be published. In addition since that time additional MVS funding has been provided by JPT, the Japan side agent for the project, and the Library of Congress has agreed to review worthy sets not able to be funded through MVS, with an eye to fill remaining gaps beyond those that can be supported by MVS funds.

The AAU/ARL/NCC Japan Journal Access Project was administered by ARL and included several ILL-related initiatives, one of which evolved into the Global ILL Framework (GIF). A number of the leaders of the Japan side of the ILL initiatives attended, and, after the conference concluded, several meetings were held to plan what became the GIF project. As members knew from earlier discussions, the Japan Project was subsequently transferred to the NCC (in 2003) and GIF is now a fully independent project currently managed by a bi-national group composed of the NCC's ILL/DD Committee Chaired by Sharon Domier and Kathy Ridenour and by the Japan side GIF Project Team, Committee on International Scholarly Communication, Japan Association of National University Libraries, now coordinated by Osamu Inoue.

The other effort then under the Japan Project was the Union List of Japanese Serials and Newspapers (ULJSN). In the summer of 2000, with the support of the JUSFC, the Union List underwent a thorough review at ARL headquarters in Washington. That review concluded that the Union List had not been produced on a platform that permitted the list's migration to another more scalable platform and that no further development should be supported on the existing version of the list. That version remains in a static form on the Ohio State web site. Since that time the National Institute of Informatics in Japan has perfected its NACSIS-CAT (online union catalog) and should the field feel the need for a union list NII would be willing to include the holdings information of North American institutions in NACSIS-CAT. Since there are no longer any active projects under the Japan Project the Council recommended at this meeting that it be disbanded.

A Consortial Licensing task force was created to survey the use of and needs for electronic databases, to explore prospects for the consortial licensing of such products (which have been subsequently undertaken by several regional library consortia), and to educate vendors on licensing issues for North American libraries. The efforts of the task force were so successful and important to the field that a standing Digital Resources Committee was created in 2003. In 2005, at the recommendation of retiring committee co-chair, Ellen Hammond of Yale University, the committee was further supported by the designation of one Council librarian position to be held by the Chair of the Digital Resources Committee, currently Tomoko Steen of the Library of Congress.

The need for an Electronic Help Desk received very strong support among conferees, and was subsequently taken up by the CEAL Executive Board which also adopted it as a CEAL priority. CEAL and the NCC agreed to cooperate on the development of the project which has since become AskEASL (Ask an East Asian Studies Librarian). The NCC, with funds left from the conference and the encouragement from the JUSFC, was able to support the initial planning and research expenses for AskEASL which is now affiliated with the Virtual Reference Desk (VRD) project of the University of Syracuse School of Library and Information Sciences. The project provides free reference service internationally in four languages, English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean with an all-volunteer team of expert librarians. Sharon Domier of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, one of the original founders of the project, remains one of its coordinators along with Setsuko Noguchi of the University of Illinois.

The conference also recommended that the NCC should continue to take a strong interest in the broad professional training of librarians. At the time of the conference the first iteration of what was then known as the Japan Foundation-National Diet Library Training Program, since renamed the Japan Studies Information Specialist Training Program (JSIST), had one more year left on its initial five-year run. The general consensus of the conference was that the program, or a variation thereof, should continue and that the NCC should work with relevant groups in the US and Japan to advocate for the extension of the program. Subsequently the Japan Foundation has extended the program in versions that have consistently broadened the range of trainees accepted to the program in accordance with the Foundation's increasing focus on programs with broad and general rather than more specialized impact.

Professional training for librarians has since been a major focus of NCC activities and fund raising. Major examples include the 6 day intensive Junior Japanese Studies Librarians Professional Training Seminar (JLTS) held at Harvard in 2002 which trained 19 US, Canadian, and German librarians, and the T-3 (Training the Trainers) Workshops which provided training in the best practices for offering information literacy instruction to 33 Japanese and East Asian studies librarians from the US and Canada during JFFY 2004-05. The Council's decision at this meeting to create a new Librarian Professional Development Committee as an umbrella for librarian professional development and with a mandate to provide mentoring, further supports these efforts.

The need for faculty and student user training was also regarded as a priority especially among the faculty who attended the conference. The recognition of the growing number of isolated or under-served faculty who teach in institutions without professionally trained Japanese or East Asian specialist librarians brought forth a number of recommendations. Another initiative that supported such faculty and their students was the creation of what was then called a series of basic tutorials or "dummies" guides to everything from how to download Japanese fonts onto a computer to the use and navigation of specific online and subscription digital resources. A set of basic guides was subsequently created by the members of the consortial licensing task force and those tutorials still exist on Sharon Domier's website. In the near future the NCC's E-Resources initiative will undertake the revision and updating of those and other guides for inclusion on the NCC's Information Literacy Resources Portal. The current series of E-Resources Workshops provide user training nationally and Year 3 plans of that project further expand those efforts.

A NCC Memo on Copyright was also recommended by conferees to encourage more liberal interpretations of copyright to promote the free flow of information among scholars in North America and Japan. Conferees encouraged the NCC to work with CULCON and other groups on this effort. Copyright continues to be a thorny and contentious issue that is largely beyond the scope of the NCC's range of impact.

Further Advancing Cooperative Collection Development in North America beyond that of the MVS project was also recommended. Thereafter the NCC tried to raise funds for Canadian participation in MVS and created a Canadian Advisory Group which has since been transformed by its members into a Canadian information specialist's interest group with fund raising no longer a major objective of the group. As noted previously, additional funding for MVS was received from JPT. While other sources of funding have not been found, a number of broader cooperative collection efforts have moved forward. Sharon Domier drew the Council's attention to the efforts of Ellen Hammond and NERL (the Northeastern Regional Libraries Consortium) which have made possible the networking of digital resources, most notably the Yomiuri Shinbun CD-ROMs. Tokiko Bazzell mentioned that a parallel consortium of Western libraries (GWLA, the Greater Western Library Association) is just launching a cooperative licensing of JapanKnowledge as well.

Discussion of these recently successful efforts at networking of digital resources prompted a discussion of the need for finding venues to further educate vendors on the viability of such strategies. The Council agreed that vendor education was a very important need and that the NCC should continue to work as a group and with others, in both the US and Japan, to promote these efforts. Professor Tutiya strongly advocated for such efforts and the Council asked him to explore strategies and venues for working together with Japanese colleagues and vendors.

There was not additional time to discuss other items on the Year 2000 list in detail. However it was noted that the remaining items were all areas deemed not to be priorities for the NCC or projects for which other groups were thought to be more appropriate organizers. To briefly summarize from the circulated report, areas not recommended as projects for the NCC to take the lead on included: preservation and conservation of rare books and other fragile materials, since basic training in this area is undertaken by workshops offered by the National Institute of Japanese Literature and to a certain extent by JSIST Program. Another area that was deemed beyond the NCC's scope was the expansion of holdings information, which the NCC has continued to lobby for, but for which other organizations such as CEAL, ARL, or OCLC are more appropriate leaders. Equally the Cataloging and Preservation of Electronic Resources was seen as a growing area of need on which cooperation among East Asian libraries is needed; however no specific NCC role has been articulated. Preservation in general was felt to be an area in which no appropriate NCC role was seen beyond the offering of general advocacy. And The Use of Japanese Scripts similarly was not an area in which a clear NCC role was evident.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Toshie Marra thanked all those in attendance and especially thanked colleagues from the Library of Congress for hosting the meeting.