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Training Activities for Overseas Librarians by National University Libraries: Cases at the University of Tsukuba Library

Kazunobu KONISHI 1)
Director, Division of Library System, Tsukuba University Library

1) 1-1-1, Ten'noudai, Tsukuba Science city 305-8577; Fax: 0298-53-6052; E-mail: kkonisi@asvr.sec.tsukuba.ac.jpThe paper was delivered at the Karuizawa Inose Lodge on Wednesday October 20th, 1999.

1 Introduction
2 Cases of 3 overseas librarians
2.1 An assistant director of a university library in England
2.2 A librarian at a national university library in Taiwan
2.3 A librarian at a national university library in China
3 Cooperation with the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai in the Japanese-language Training Program for Overseas Librarians
4 Evaluation and Problems
5 Conclusion

1 Introduction

There is no official program to accept overseas librarians in Japanese national university libraries. There are only unofficial, scattered efforts by some libraries. So it is very difficult to grasp the real situation in Japan.

It is known that some private universities, such as Waseda and Keio, have official programs, but they are beyond my scope.

To develop official programs by national university libraries, it would be very useful to review unofficial efforts up to this time. Today, I would like to introduce a few examples at the University of Tsukuba Library. I hope this leads to a deeper discussion of various problems concerning training activities for overseas librarians by national university libraries in Japan.

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2 Cases of 3 overseas librarians

University of Tsukuba was founded 26 years ago. It was one of the first universities in Japan which adopted then new concepts such as "Interdisciplinarity'' and "Internationalization.'' It was regarded internationally as a model of new university and drew much attention. The University of Tsukuba accepts about 1,000 foreign students and many visitors from abroad annually. University of Tsukuba is one of the best-known universities abroad.
Naturally, there are overseas librarians who are interested in staying and studying at the University of Tsukuba Library. But, as I said before, there is no official program to accept them. Some of them are accepted unofficially and conditionally. Here follows 3 cases.

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2.1 An assistant director of a university library in England
About 10 years ago, Ms. A visited Japan. Her husband was invited as a short term professor by the University of Tsukuba. She was an assistant director of a university library in England and temporarily retired from office. She wanted to work at the University of Tsukuba Library, but it was not possible under law. So we made an unofficial training program and accepted her. Details of the program is unclear, because no document was left. Probably we explained our jobs in each department. The explanation must be made in English, because she can't understand Japanese.

One of our staff remembers that she taught us English conversation off duty. He said that her introduction of English culture, rather than techniques of
conversation, in the Queen's English had great influence to our staff.

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2.2 A librarian at a national university library in Taiwan
Ms. B is a serials librarian at a national university library in Taiwan. Last January, we received her e-mail which asked us to accept her as a trainee. We examined her request and decided to accept her. A training program was made after several exchanges of e-mails. Then an official letter from the director of her university library arrived.

Her visit was from August 5 to 11 in 1998. The program consists of 2 topics, serials management and digital library. Upon her request, a meeting with director of the University Library and other managerial staff was fixed to talk about teamwork in Japanese society.

As she understood Japanese language to some degree, the training was done in Japanese. We tried to use words and phrases as easy as possible.

She also visited Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Osaka City University for 2 days each.

It was a very short program, but the result was very satisfying. After this training, she keeps in contact with us. When the nuclear accident happened recently at Tokai Village, she sent to us an e-mail of sympathy. We were all deeply moved.

On reflection, it was not a good idea that a Saturday and a Sunday were included in the program. Because she had to spend 2 days-off at an unfamiliar place. Fortunately, one of our staff was kind enough to take her to a museum and a restaurant. She was delighted by the hospitality.

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2.3 A librarian at a national university library in China
Ms. C is a librarian at a very big university library in China. She was a visiting scholar funded by China Scholarship Council. The Science Information Processing Center, University of Tsukuba, officially accepted her. Her subject of study was ``Virtual Library,'' so her advising professor recommended her to study in the University Library. After several discussions between the professor and library staff, it was decided that the Division of Library System of the University Library was in charge of her training.

She stayed in Japan from mid October in 1998 to September 30, 1999. The advising professor made a general year-long training plan and the library staff made a more detailed program for first 3 months. It gave priority to learning practical aspects of library systems and digital libraries.

The library staff at various sections explained their jobs by turns, and after that period she studied self-actively.

She visited many institutions related to digital libraries, attended conferences, workshops and seminars more than 80 times.

She returned to China on October 1, 1999 with the fruit of her efforts.

I suppose she had many troubles during her stay in Japan, because of the difference of life-styles between China and Japan. She stayed at a lodging house for visiting scholars, but she had to resolve various problems such as getting necessaries of life, how to get to the library, understanding telephone system, etc. One of our staff who was in charge of coordination of the training program devotedly supported her usual life physically and mentally. Without her help, this Chinese librarian may not have finished her study.

She had already learned Japanese language in another university some years before, so she wrote and spoke Japanese very well. That was also an important factor for the success of this case.

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3 Cooperation with the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai in the Japanese-language Training Program for Overseas Librarians

The University of Tsukuba Library have helped the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai, with its Japanese-language Training Program for Overseas Librarians for 6 years.

Every year more than 10 foreign librarians participate in this program. They learn Japanese language at the Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai, and visit various libraries in Japan during 6 months period from October to March.

The University of Tsukuba Library usually accept them for 2 days in early December.

Their ability for Japanese language varies a lot, so we take care to make clear, easy to understand explanations.

We have done a lecture-style program each year, but this year we are planning to spend more time for a Q&A style meeting. It is because our lectures contained too much for some trainees to digest. Another reason why we change our program is the diversity of trainees' interests. They are interested in not only libraries but also the way of thinking of Japanese people and Japanese culture.

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4 Evaluation and Problems

Here are the merits of accepting overseas librarians as trainees. Firstly we ourselves can understand our jobs better while explaining them to other people in a way easy to understand. It is a common significance of various training programs.
Secondly, contacting different culture, we may get new findings on our jobs. Naive questions from foreign librarians sometimes have our eyes opened. Of course, we can get first-hand information about situations of overseas universities and libraries.

Thirdly links with trainees are created through the training. It may be possible that those links will become international relationships between libraries or universities. Recently it is very easy to contact trainees by e-mail after they return home.

However, there are many problems to solve to create an effective training program for overseas librarians in Japan.

Firstly systems and regulations must be established to accept officially overseas librarians at national universities. At least university libraries should create a system with which they can accept overseas librarians in cooperation with faculty members. That was the case of Ms. C, a Chinese librarian. It is important to make clear how far the library is responsible for the training in this case.

Secondly it is necessary to support a trainee's everyday life physically and mentally especially when training period is long. A system must be established for this support. Spending her training period with health is far more important than what she learns.
Thirdly, on the part of a trainee, ability for Japanese language and clear purposes of training are required. We should judge them when we receive an application.

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5 Conclusion

Those cases at the University of Tsukuba Library are exceptional and fragmentary. But they contain important indications to continue to accept overseas librarians for training.

Anyway, enough preparation with an official system is necessary for a fruitful training. Discussions about this topic must be continued at every university library.

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