2009 CEAL Conference

 

Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM)

 

Thursday, March 26, 8:30-10:20

 

Sheraton Chicago, Ballroom 10

Chicago, IL

 

MINUTES

 

 

 

Part I

  1. Welcome Remarks (Haruko Nakamura)
  2. Report on Europe (Antony Boussemart)
  3. Overview of Promotion of Digitization (MasayaTakamura)

 

Part II

Introduction of Panelists (by Haruko Nakamura)

Panelists: Albert Hoffstädt (Publishing Manager Asian Studies, Brill), Kate Nakai (Editor, Monumenta Nipponica), Pat Crosby (executive editor, University of Hawai’I Press), Makoto Okamoto (editor, Academic Resource Guide)

    

Part I-1

Nakamura introduced the current CJS members and expressed appreciation.  She expressed condolences on behalf of the committee for Takako Gilmore and Frank Yorichika.  She also announced the retirements of Kiyo Kanda and Sumiko Takaramura, and introduced newly appointed librarians.

 

Part I-2

Boussemart introduced two consortiums organized by Japanese Studies libraries in Europe.  The European Consortium for Sustainable Development of Japanese Electronic Resources was inspired by the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). The consortium has five members from France, four from England and one from the Netherlands.  This consortium had its first meeting in Feb. 2009, aiming at developing the collections of electronic resources pertaining to Japan among the participating libraries. This cooperation is designed to make it possible to negotiate the purchase of digital resources at the best price possible. The members gather at least once a year, and the next one will be held at The British Library in Sept 2009.

The other consortium is the European Consortium for Asian Field Study, founded in 2007, it has more than 40 institutional members.  For more information, see, www.ecafconsortium.com. 

 

Part I-3

Takayamaintroduced the National Archives of Japan (NAJ).  The organization has three facilities in Japan; 1) the main branch in Tokyo, 2) Tsukuba Annex, and 3) The Office of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records.  NAJ’s total holdings stand at 1,128,116 volumes, divided into two parts: 1) Cabinet Library and 2) Government Documents & Records.  NAJ boasts a bilingual digital archive, which includes a digital gallery.  NAJ is currently working on: 1) constructing digital archives, 2) enhancing search capabilities, offering online exhibits, 4) cooperating with national preservation agencies, and 5) collaborating with local autonomous archives and other libraries as well as museums.  Chinese and Korean rare books are included in its digital archives, which received scholarly attention.  Takamura requests feedback on their activities.  (NAJ’s website: http://www.archives.go.jp/index.html)

 

II

Hoffstädt asserted that it wasn’t financially feasible to translate scholarly publications from Japan, due to small market size and translation costs.  Therefore, works in the Humanities are not often translated.

 

Crosby looked at the situation of a university presses, which often don’t get adequate financial support from the parent university. Although the death of the monograph is unlikely it is still a particularly difficult time for a young scholar to publish his/her first book.

 

Nakai was absent and the manuscript was read Shirin Eshghi (Dr. Nakai’s paper).

 

Okamoto, spoke on current publication trends in Japan : "Japanese academic publishing output and trends in relation to library uses and demand outside Japan"【PPT】

 (Okamoto’s presentation). 

 

Q&A session was followed.  The audience asked if publishers read blogs.  Crosby answered that they do not necessarily read blogs.  Hoffstädt said not, unless the contents were directly related.

Another question was addressed to Okamoto, asking him to qualify "additional value" which should be included in print monographs. Okamoto stated publishers should do more than create print publications that just replicate content that is readily available online. The additional value can come in the form of commentaries, references, etc.


Another question was asked in terms of parallel publication (both print and online).  Crosby said there would be no technical issue preventing this, so it could become more frequent in the future. However, she added whether publishers opt to do this would depend on whether it is financially feasible to do so.