It was supposed to be a holiday but I couldn't pass up such a great opportunity to see how things are done and what is happening in my field around the world. As I am sure we all know, it is very important to maintain contacts we have made and to learn as much as we can from different organisations. While I did spend a lot of time sightseeing, I also made a point of visiting some libraries and other research organisations just to have a look.
My first stop was France and in between dodging the first wave of soccer fans and not being able to get flights confirmed because the Air France pilots were on strike, I did some sightseeing. Of course I "did" the usual sights, but in addition I couldn't stop myself from visiting some libraries.
FranceLa Bibliotheque Nationale de FranceI was very impressed with the idea that before entering the library everyone has to meet with a reference librarian to discuss their needs and be issued with a user card. It seemed very labour-intensive but it was good from both points of view - I had the chance to explain what I wanted and they could tell me they didn't have much that would be interesting to me. Reference items and computer catalogues are available for perusal but the French keyboard is different (I donate think I realised this before I went there, but all keyboards are not made equal!) so I made many mistakes typing searches on the OPAC. And I have to admit that my French was more than a little rusty, so the whole process was quite tiring! La Maison de la culture du Japon a Paris This is housed in a very palatial building just across the road from the Australian Embassy in Paris and just a short walk from the Eiffel Tower. In fact, the day I went there I was asked by the staff about the "new" Australian flag. A good look out the window revealed that the embassy was displaying the Aboriginal flag, which was very interesting to the staff when I explained what it was. Unfortunately the staff didn't have a very good opinion of the Australian Embassy, because it completely blocked their view of the Eiffel Tower! I spoke with Ms Etsuko Morimura, the Senior Librarian, about the difficulties of working in a library overseas which deals with Japan - the problems of obtaining materials and support - which are the same whether in France or Australia. Ms Morimura gave me a guided tour of the facility, which is extremely well stocked - all the references, books, magazines in English, French and Japanese, videos and their players, CD-ROMs, computers that anyone could want. Even a technical person sent over from NEC Japan to do computer things. Ms Morimura is Japanese but has lived in France for many years; there is also one Japanese staff member from the National Diet Library in Tokyo. Other staff are French who are fluent in Japanese - in fact, because my French was so shaky (as was their English) we spoke in Japanese, which must have been quite a sight! Ms Morimura invited me to attend the EAJRS (European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists) conference in Brussels in September 1998, which sounds wonderful but I think I will have to make do with the conference reports. I also visited the Sorbonne university, which was not as big a collection as I had thought. As I had heard from Ms Morimura, the budget cuts so familiar to all of us in academic libraries have hit hard everywhere and collections are ageing. After a bit of tension finding that the baggage-handlers were on strike in sympathy with the pilots, ending up on a strange airline to my next destination (Norway), then on leaving Norway discovering that the Norwegian air traffic controllers were on strike as well (!), I reached Japan. Relief! Finally I was in a country where I understood the language and knew how to get about. Which is funny in many ways, because I was asked for directions in both Paris and Oslo ("I'm sorry, I'm just a tourist here ..."). JapanTokyo International House of Japan LibraryI stayed at International House and so had several opportunities to speak with Ms Koide and her staff. We had discussions about our respective libraries and the changes since we had spoken last, and we also discussed the relative merits of various CD-ROMs, online databases and their acquisition and use. Ms Koide also provided me with some interesting details subscribing to various discussion groups and what sorts of information can be found there. We stressed again the importance of maintaining networks, particularly for Japanese Librarians overseas who tend to be working on their own and with little opportunity to learn new things and share with others in similar work. To this end we discussed the merits of attending the various forthcoming conferences (AAS - Association of Asian Studies - in March 1999, AAA - American Association of Anthropology - in December 1998, EAJRS - European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists - in September 1998) and, of course, the Senior Japanese Librarian's Course held in January - February 1999, under the auspices of the Japan Foundation and the National Diet Library (1). May I also add here that it is Ms Koide to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for exhorting me to join the library profession! It was something I had been contemplating, but once I heard a talk given by Ms Koide in Melbourne in 1995, I was inspired to make all efforts to achieve what I could. I am very pleased to have been supported in my work ever since. Japan Publications Trading Japan Publications Trading (JPT) is our main supplier of Japanese books in the East Asian Section, so it was good to meet with them and discuss our needs and other issues. Later I was accompanied on a short walking tour of the area (Kanda Jimbo-cho), which is where the big publishing houses have retail stores, so I could see what was new on the shelves. Later I went back on my own to explore more fully the second-hand bookstores and other outlets. The Second Asian Studies Conference, Sophia University I attended some of the presentations and I was particularly interested in the Internet workshop. It never works to have 20 people all trying to access the same web sites at once! Much better to prepare a Powerpoint demonstration and then let participants check out web sites they think look good later on - a useful reminder for our reader education classes! A useful list of web sites and listservs/discussion groups was distributed. I am amazed at how many academics still have no idea how to access and make the best use of the Internet. Or maybe it's just those in Japan who don't use it so much? It causes me to reflect on my own academic staff and to ensure that sort of training is part of my reader education classes with both students and staff. Keio University Library Mr Kato from ISS gave me a very thorough outline of the library and its organisation, especially the difficulties of working over many wide-spread campuses. I then spent 45 minutes wandering around by myself, and was again reminded of the restrictions on using and visiting Japanese libraries. I am so familiar with the Australian concept of everything being open to use by the general public, and it is easy to see how researchers become frustrated with the need to obtain a letter of introduction every time a library visit is planned. National Diet Library I visited the National Diet Library (NDL), only briefly this time, primarily to find and copy some information for a PhD student here at the University of Melbourne. In doing so I learnt of some new reference sources and also how to access "Noren", the NDL database. Osaka Richard Harrison, formerly a lecturer in the Japanese Department (now called the Melbourne Institute of Asian Languages and Studies) at the University of Melbourne currently works in the Japan Foundation's Osaka facility, the Kansai International Centre. I asked if I could make a quick visit to the library there, and before I knew it all sorts of other activities had been planned for me. Osaka Central Municipal Library Mr Muraoka (Head, Information Services) took me and some representatives from the Kansai International Centre on a three-hour tour of his facilities, including a video presentation. There is a very impressive foreign language collection, and the library itself is a large, airy building which even has a coffee shop in the basement (I have to admit I was very surprised at that!). This library was rebuilt and reopened to the public only this year, and can be said to be the "state of the art" in Japanese public libraries. However, they had no Internet access for the library users and nor do they have plans to introduce it. This seems a point of great interest to me as there are few (if any) public libraries in Victoria that I am aware of which are without Internet access. "Musubime no kai" Later that evening, I gave a talk to the Osaka librarian's group "Musubime no kai", which was videotaped. This group consists of librarians from many different institutions - public libraries, universities, schools. The subject was "Customer needs in a multicultural setting". The audience members were particularly interested to learn that our university library is open to anyone and the same services were offered to all - this is definitely not the case in Japan, as I have mentioned above. They were keen to hear my opinions of the CJK cataloguing system, and how we in university libraries deal with overseas students. Visit to Japan Foundation's Kansai Language Centre After my busy first day in Osaka, I spent the next day at the Osaka Kansai International Centre. I expected a tour of the library and the facilities, which I did get, but the whole day's activities were videotaped for the staff to use later in their classes. At the KIC they have a class "Japanese Language Program for Librarians", which is an intensive course for librarians who are involved in work which requires proficiency in Japanese. I am amused to think that they will be using my tours as teaching materials for the students! In conclusionWhile the Japan part of my trip in particular was a lot busier than I had anticipated, it was all enjoyable and I was pleased to have gained so much information which will be useful in my work over the next few months. It really is interesting to see how things are done in other countries and how people prioritise the different facets of library work. Of course, there were the other fun things I did like going to the "Lavender Festival" where I ate lavender-flavoured cake (interesting!), and visiting a factory where "aizome" (indigo fabric dyeing) has been done for hundreds of years, and being dragged to the karaoke by two friends "just for an hour" only to have to be forcibly ejected after three hours! ... It's all fun! But in many ways I was glad to be back in Melbourne again. Now to save up for my next big adventure! (1) I am very pleased and honoured to announce that I was chosen to attend the Japan Foundation's Senior Japanese Librarian's Course in 1999. I will write a report of that course for inclusion in a forthcoming issue of the Newsletter. |