ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 9 / 6 6 7 British Library colloquium in resources for Japanese studies By Sachié N oguchi Japanese Bibliographer/C ataloger U niversity o f P ittsburgh The third British Library Colloquium, Septem ber14-16, 1988. T his colloquium was th e th ird (th e first, C o l­ lo q u iu m on R eso u rces in C h in e se Studies, August 1987; th e se co n d , th e F irs t In te rn a tio n a l C onference o f J a p a n e se In fo rm a tio n , S e p te m b e r 1987) in th e series th e B ritish L ib ra ry has b e e n organizing to b rin g to g e th e r lib ra ria n s, scholars, and in fo rm a tio n sc ie n tists to s h a re th e ir know l­ edge, e x p e rien c e , an d id eas on th e re s o u rc e s base for O riental studies. It was sp onsored by th e British Library w ith su p p o rt from th e Ja p an F o u n d a tio n , the School o f O rien ta l a n d A frican Studies (SOAS) of th e U n iv e rsity o f L o n d o n , th e B ritish C o u n cil, and th e J a p a n L ib ra ry G r o u p . SOAS was th e ven u e, and th e colloquium im m e ­ diately p r e c e d e d th e C o n fe re n c e o f th e E u ro p e a n Association for J a p a n e se S tu d ie s, h e ld at th e U n i­ versity o f D u rh a m , 19-22 S e p te m b e r 1988. In contrast to th e last y e a r’s c o n fe re n c e , w h ich fo ­ cused on scien ce, tech n o lo g y , a n d b u sin e ss in fo r­ mation, this c o lloquium co v ered b ro a d e r topics on Japanese s tu d ie s in c lu d in g th e b o o k in d u stry a n d au tom ation. I t w as u n iq u e in d e a lin g specifically with re s o u rc e s on J a p a n e se studies. T h e C o llo q u iu m w as officially o p e n e d by th e Japanese A m b a ssa d o r, M r. K. C h ib a , a n d in tr o ­ d u c e d b y L o rd Q u in to n , c h a irm a n o f th e B ritish Library B oard. T h e p ro g ra m on th e first day was an overview o f reso u rc e s fo r Ja p an e se stu d ie s in B rit­ ain a n d a b ro a d . T h ir te e n p a p e rs w e re p r e s e n te d d u rin g fo u r sessions, w ith a special le c tu re b y D r. U. W a tte n b e r g (G e rm a n S ociety fo r In fo rm a tio n a n d D o c u m e n ta tio n , Tokyo) on “M aps a n d M ap C o llectio n s in Ja p a n .” T h e se c o n d day c o v e re d th e to p ic s o f p rin tin g , publishing, a n d th e a rt o f th e Jap an ese book. T h e re w e re ele v e n p re s e n ta tio n s in fo u r sessions; M r. S. S orim achi (p re s id e n t o f th e K obunso A n tiq u arian B o o k seller) gave p a rt o n e (a b o u t m a n u sc rip ts) o f his le c tu re on “T h e P lace o f Ja p an e se A n tiq u arian Books in th e W o rld .” T h e special le c tu re was given by P rof. M. Yayoshi (v ic e -p re sid e n t, L ib ra rie s C o m m u n ic a tio n C e n tre , Tokyo) on “R elatio n s b e tw e e n P u b lish e rs a n d M en o f L e tte rs in th e E d o P e rio d .” T h e subjects o f th e th ird day w ere on autom ation a n d c o o p e ra tio n . T e n p a p e rs w e re given in th r e e sessions. Mr. Sorim achi gave p a rt two (about p rin te d books) o f his le c tu re as th e sp ecial le c tu re o f th e day. T h e co llo q u iu m was a tte n d e d by o n e h u n d r e d a n d fifte e n p a rtic ip a n ts in all from e le v e n E u r o ­ p e a n c o u n trie s , th e U n ite d S tates, A ustralia, a n d Jap an . T h e p a rtic ip a n ts fro m th e U n ite d S tates w ere: M r. K. K a h le r o f th e U niv ersity o flo w a , Mr. K. N iki o f C o lu m b ia U niversity, D r. R. Ravicz o f th e U niversity o f C alifornia, Ms. M. S h im o m u ra o f 6 6 8 / C & R L N e w s P rin c e to n , Ms. L. Virgin o f th e U niversity o f C h i­ cago, a n d S. N oguchi. D u rin g th e colloquium , th e M ulti-S cript W o rk ­ statio n (M SW ) for R L IN CJK was d e m o n s tra te d . An exhibition on th e th e m e o f “Byways in Japanese I llu s tra tio n ” was on display in th e K ing’s G allery. P a rtic ip a n ts also h a d th e o p p o rtu n ity to preview , d u rin g th e second evening recep tio n , m ajo rp ieces in th e H yde c o llectio n o f im p o rta n t Ja p an e se m anuscripts and illustrated books before th ey w ere a u c tio n ed by C h ristie ’s in New York on 7 O cto b er. T h e final session on th e th ir d day in c lu d e d a discussion on th e d e sira b ility a n d feasibility o f fo rm in g a E u ro p e a n A ssociation o f Japanologist L ib rarian s. V arious opinions w e re exchanged and th e f u rth e r discussion a n d decision will take place in B erlin, O c to b e r 1989. T h e e ndeavor o f Yu Ying Brown, w ho is th e head o f th e Japanese Section, O rien ta l C ollection o f th e B ritish L ibrary, a n d was th e o rg a n iz e r a n d c o n ­ v e n e r, was very m uch a p p re c ia te d by all p a rtic i­ pants. C opies o f th e p re s e n te d p ap ers w ere d istrib ­ u te d at th e C olloquium a n d will la te r be p u b lish e d as a v olum e by th e B ritish L ibrary. ■ ■ Consumers as producers By H elen MacLam Social Science Subject E d ito r Choice A report on the International Group o f Publishing Libraries. A lth o u g h c o m p arativ ely few in n u m b e r, lib ra ries w ith p u b lish in g p ro g ra m s o c ­ cupy a significant, if special, niche in th e publishing com m unity. Mainly research facilities, th ese librar­ ies m a y b e p riv a tely fu n d e d , such as th e H u n tin g - ton Library; th ey m aybe affiliated w ith a university; or th e y m ay b e n atio n al in stitu tio n s , such as th e L ib rary o f C o n g ress o r th e K oninklijke Biblio- th e e k , T h e H ag u e. T h e irp u b lic a tio n s ran g e from m ajor rese a rc h tools to postcards. T he In ternational G roup o f Publishing Libraries g rew o u t o f a 1983 s e m in a r o f lib ra ry pu b lish in g h e ld at th e B ritish L ibrary. R e p re se n ta tiv e s from a b o u t th irty in stitu tio n s in th e U.S., U .K ., a n d W estern E u ro p e gath ered to share ideas and exper­ tise h a rd won from th e ir experiences as publishers. T h e IG P L , w hich rem ains an inform al group ra th e r th a n a form al o rg an izatio n , m ee ts b ien n ia lly to sh a re e x p e rien c e s an d explore th e p o ssib ilities o f active collaboration am ong research libraries o p e r­ ating p u b lish in g p ro g ra m s. L ibrary publishing has a long if not widely known history. D avid W ay (th e B ritish Library) indicates th a t th e B odleian L ibrary, O xford, issu e d its first catalog in 1605, an d th e first volum e o f th e B ritish M u s e u m ’s C atalogue o f A d d itio n s to th e M a n u ­ sc rip ts (to w hich volum es are still b e in g a d d ed ) cam e o u t in 1843. W ay f u rth e r sta te s th a t “T oday several libraries o p e ra te p u b lish in g p ro g ram s on a scale extensive enough to qualify th e m as m ed iu m ­ sized publishers: for exam ple, th e National L ibrary o f A ustralia and th e British Library each issues well over fifty titles a y e a r.”1 In this country, th e L ib rary o f C ongress a n d th e 1David Way, “Publishing in Libraries.” Scholarly P u blishing 20, no. 1 (O c to b e r 1988), 35.