The NCC's Junior Japanese Studies Librarians Professional Training Seminar (JLTS) took place at Harvard University over an intensive one week period in August 2002. 19 junior librarians, 17 from throughout the U.S. and one each from Canada and Germany, received training in all aspects of Japanese Studies librarianship from an equal number of senior colleagues from the U.S. and Japan.

Training has long been a major focus of NCC activities and the need for training a new generation of Japanese Studies librarians was identified as a priority at the NCC's Year 2000 Conference. The Seminar itself was the result of initiatives taken by a group of young librarians who recognized their own need for further training. Approaching NCC Chair Sachie Noguchi and Executive Director Victoria Bestor at the 2001 AAS Meeting the initial plan for the JLTS was discussed. Thereafter two committees were formed, one was comprised of senior librarians who became the lead instructors for the seminar and the other was made up of Junior Librarians who surveyed colleagues to learn of the key areas in which younger librarians most needed training. NCC Chair Sachie Noguchi (Japanese Bibliographer at the University of Pittsburgh) and Kuniko Yamada McVey (Librarian of the Japanese Collection, Harvard-Yenching Library) became co-chairs of the seminar. Together they worked with the NCC executive director to develop grant proposals for the Japan Foundation, the Northeast Asia Council of the AAS, and for the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, all of which provided financial support. In addition the Harvard-Yenching Library provided logistical support.

The complete schedule for the Seminar along with a list of instructors and participants and other background material related to the Seminar is contained in the appendix to this volume. To provide easier access to users of this electronic volume the sequence of sessions has been reorganized by topic each unit of which is web linked from the table of contents. The electronic version of the JLTS Workbook that follows is the product of the 19 leading instructors who participated in the 23 instructional sessions and roundtables, in addition with permission several supplementary essays that were made available to trainees are also included. To make Seminar materials readily available to librarians, scholars, students of Japanese Studies, and others, after the Seminar NCC Chair Sachie Noguchi worked with instructors to revise individual sections. Subsequently the entire volume has been redesigned for electronic publication on the NCC's web site by NCC webmaster Brigid Laffey working with Executive Director Victoria Bestor. This workbook is freely available and downloadable as PDF or Word files, and can easily be printed out or saved onto a disk.

The web publication of this workbook was made possible by the Japan Foundation which generously provided an extension of their original grant for the Junior Japanese Studies Librarians Professional Training Seminar to allow time for this web publication. The NCC Thanks them and all the other funders and participants for making this project such a success.

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