In fiscal 2011, we held six rounds of SPARC Japan Seminars. A total of 531 people participated in the seminars and a symposium jointly organized with the Japan Association of National University Libraries (JANUL). The number of participants decreased by about 260 from the previous FY, which we believe is attributable to the fact that we had fewer seminars and the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

SPARC Japan Seminars have been held since 2003 and those from publishing and printing companies have traditionally accounted for a large portion of participants. However, the number of participants from academic institutions (universities, university libraries, and public institutions) came to a record high of 389, which accounted for 50 percent of all participants, in 2010, and 320, representing 60%, in 2011. We will continue to make efforts to make people of various backgrounds to take interest and participate in SPARC Japan Seminars.

Participants by affiliation

The seminars focused on hot topics and we invited overseas leading players in the relevant fields to join us and discuss them. For instance, we had Mr. Victor Henning, CEO of Mendeley, and Mr. Peter Binfield from the PLoS ONE as lecturers.

As major achievements in our activity, some seminars were held outside Tokyo, one at Okayama University in Okayama Prefecture and another at the University of Toyama in Toyama Prefecture, and we worked with the Digital Repository Federation (DRF) in planning and organizing seminars. We are expecting that these new attempts will bring in new insights in planning and organizing seminars from now on.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to those who were engaged in the planning of seminars, those who served as lecturers and moderators, and all the people who participated in the seminars.