28 April 2001, updated 7 May 2001

Hideyuki Morimoto

 

 

0.          Introduction

 

      Following the recent pattern, this present annual report of the CEAL Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM) covers entire calendar year 2000, i.e., from January 2000 to December 2000.

 

      In its second year of the Committee cycle, CJM has made much progress in several ways.  This present CJM annual report from 2000 is organized around the following topics:  (1) Committee membership; (2) Committee annual sessions; (3) Committee workshop; (4) Committee activities; (5) functions within CEAL; and (6) collaboration with relevant external individuals and organizations.

 

 

1.          Committee Membership

 

      The CJM membership structure remained intact during the entire calendar year 2000, the period covered by this present annual report, as was initially approved for cycle 1999‑2002 by the CEAL Executive Committee in summer 1999.  It was:

 

            Frank L. Chance, Princeton University;

            Scott Edward Harrison, University of Washington;

            Toshie Marra, University of California, Los Angeles;

            William B. McCloy (Ex Officio), University of Washington;

            Kuniko Yamada McVey, Harvard University;

            Hideyuki Morimoto (Chair), University of California, Berkeley; and

        Yuki Nagano, International Christian University (Japan).

 

 

2.          Committee Annual Sessions

 

      The 2000 CJM annual session was held on 9 March 2000 in San Diego.   Mr. Keita Goto of the University of Kyoto made a presentation entitled "Scanned Image Data of Rare Materials for the Kyoto University Digital Library"; Mr. Noboru Takahashi of Waseda Universiy delivered a presentation entitled "International ILL Operations in Japan:  The Case of Waseda University Library"; Ms. Reiko Yoshimura provided a highlight of "Workshop on Early Japanese Illustrated Books (2000 : Freer Gallery of Art)"; and Ms. Sachiê Noguchi of the University of Pittsburgh presented a report of "Japan Foundation-National Diet Library Librarians' Training Program (4th : 2000 : Tokyo, Japan, etc.)."   Those were followed by Committee member reports/short presentations:  General Report, etc. by Hideyuki Morimoto; Japanese Studies Reference Queries by Ms. Kuniko Yamada McVey in collaboration with Mr. Scott Edward Harrison; and Committee Activities Report by Ms. Toshie Marra.  A detailed written report of the 1999 CJM annual session was prepared by Dr. Frank L. Chance and appeared in JEAL, no. 121 (June 2000), which is also found at the CJM Web site for cycle 1999‑2002:  http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/NonProfitBlvd/hideyuki_morimoto/home.htm.

 

      CJM, in response to a revised CEAL directive requiring each committee to finalize an annual session program well in advance, managed to lay out agenda for the 2001 CJM session for announcement to the general public by the end of September 2000.  Again, late arrival from Japan of other presentation suggestions after the finalization deadline as set out by CEAL could not be accommodated.  A schedule as it stood as of the end of December 2000 was as follows.

 

Ms. Katsuko Murahashi, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations:  Retrieval of Japanese Company History Information

an official of Japan National Diet Library to be dispatched:  Digital Library Projects at Japan National Diet Library

Prof. Maureen Donovan, Ohio State University:  Cataloging of Japanese Electronic Resources

Ms. Ellen Hammond, University of Iowa; Ms. Naomi Kotake, Stanford University; etc.:  Japan Foundation-National Diet Library Librarians' Training Program (5th : 2001 : Tokyo, Japan, etc.)

Committee Member Reports/Short Presentations

 

      As somewhat anticipated in March 2000 when the CEAL directive was revised regarding the annual session agenda finalization well ahead of the annual session, this revised requirement was again found to be unrealistic especially in view of the well-known difficulty associated with advance travel arrangements for potential and relevant session speakers to be invited from Japan, which has a fiscal as well as academic year cycle starting in April and ending in March, for the CEAL annual meeting time of spring.  Some of such possibilities could not know their end-of-the-fiscal-year schedule until well into the preceding winter.  CJM thus decided to strongly reiterate its position to CEAL that the newly-introduced and then revised regulation requiring each CEAL committee to finalize its annual session schedule well in advance should immediately be rescinded.

 

 

3.          Committee Workshop

 

      The participants in the CEAL Japanese Studies Librarian Workshop held in 1999 at Harvard University filed their positive evaluative comments with the organizer.  The current cycle of CJM, which assumed responsibilities after the Workshop was offered, received many requests both from those attended and missed the Workshop for its follow-up and/or repetition.  In January 2000, the Workshop on Early Japanese Illustrated Books was organized by the Freer Gallery of Art, a report from which was made by Ms. Reiko Yoshimura at the 2000 CJM annual session, which resulted in requests from CJM to organize a follow-up workshop on cataloging of early Japanese titles with lecturers from the Library of Congress.  CJM reported this to the CEAL Executive Committee and secured approval at the March 2000 CEAL Executive Committee for CJM's organization of such a workshop in conjunction with the 2002 CEAL meetings to be held in D.C.

 

      Following preliminary communication with LC and in cooperation with other relevant CEAL Committees, i.e., the Committee on Technical Processing, the Committee on Chinese Materials, and the Committee on Korean Materials, a survey of CEAL members was administered in spring 2000 to assess the level of CEAL members' interest in attending a CJK rare book cataloging workshop, the result of which was included in a letter of request expedited to LC from CEAL, to which a positive response was secured from LC in September 2000.  This was announced through Eastlib and the CJM Web site.  The Committee on Technical Processing immediately started to work on logistics arrangements for the workshop.

 

 

4.          Committee Activities

 

      Major CJM activities for the period between January and March 2000 were planning and implementation of the CJM annual session held in March 2000.  Accordingly, the CJM Web site was maintained with file updates and additions.

 

      In addition, CJM continued to work on the following committee activities with a specific focal point assigned to each initially set up for the current CJM cycle.

 

(1) Planning/preparation for CJM sessions at 2000/2001/2002 Annual Meetings (focal point: Hideyuki Morimoto);

(2) Establishment/maintenance of a Web site for the Committee, 1999-2002 (focal point: Hideyuki Morimoto);

(3) Study and dissemination of findings on handling of Japanese rare books (focal point: Toshie Marra);

(4) Planning for digital Japanese studies resource development (focal point: Kuniko Yamada McVey);

(5) Promotion of cooperation with Japan National Diet Library (focal point: Kuniko Yamada McVey);

(6) Study and dissemination of findings on bibliographic data romanization for complicated situations, including Japanese-language titles published outside Japan but within the Chinese-script civilization region (such as those published by Wai wen chu ban she in Beijing and Oegungmun Ch'ulp'ansa in P'yongyang), Chinese-language (as opposed to "kanbun") titles published inside Japan (such as those issued by Riben guo ji jiao liu ji jin, aka Japan Foundation), or Chinese classics in the original language published by the Government-General of Chosen and acquired in North America through Japanese acquisition sources (focal point: Toshie Marra); and

(7) Monitoring of new appointments to Japanese studies librarian positions within North America; and sending welcoming messages to those new to this field or felicitation messages to those moving from one position to another within the field (focal point: Hideyuki Morimoto)

 

      Items (1), (2), and (7) are obviously ongoing.  Beside these, tangible and positive results were already generated with activities (3) and (5).

 

 

5.          Functions within CEAL

 

      Despite CEAL's earlier action of urging the Librarian of the U.S. Congress reconsideration of LC's closure of the Japan Documentation Center (JDC) upon conclusion of JDC operation funding provision by the Center for Global Partnership, JDC closed in March 2000, a mention of which was made at the 2000 CJM annual meeting; and a letter of appreciation was sent from CJM to the JDC Director in March 2000.

 

      CJM Chair continued with his responsibility of CJM representation in the CEAL Executive Committee.  In 2000, he:  reiterated to the Executive Committee that CEAL members wished CJM to plan and offer another workshop; requested from the Executive Committee, in this regard, permission of CJM's holding of a workshop in conjunction with 2001 CEAL annual meetings; requested from CEAL Acting President approval for issuing a solicitation letter for internal travel funding allocation within an organization in Japan to facilitate logistics arrangements for one of the guest speakers for the 2001 CJM annual session; reported to the Executive Committee the 2001 CJM session program; relayed to the CEAL President a request received from a university library in Japan, by way of a publisher in Tokyo, for CEAL's issuance of an invitation letter to a librarian's attendance at the 2001 CEAL meetings; and offered input with regard to CEAL business, including 2001 plenary session programming, 2001 meeting time allocation to each committee within CEAL, and honoring retiring CEAL members.

 

 

6.          Collaboration with Relevant External Individuals and Organizations

 

      CJM Chair continued to represent CEAL in the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC).  A CJM member, Eddy Harrison, continued his service on NCC in his capacity as a Japanese studies librarian with a significant contribution record to the profession.  In 2000, CJM reported back from NCC to CEAL President items of direct concern to CEAL members with regard to the future arrangements of the Japan Foundation-National Diet Library librarian training program and to collaborative efforts between NCC and CEAL, which received a heightened attention following NCC's Next Decade Planning Conference held in March 2000.  As a CEAL representative in NCC, CJM Chair participated: in January 2000 in evaluation and rating of funding support application documents filed by libraries in the U.S. with the Japan Foundation New York Office; and in summer 2000 in an applicant evaluation and recommendation formulation process for report filing with the Japan Foundation regarding participants from the United States in the training program.  A current CJM member, Kuniko Yamada McVey, also participated in both of these deliberations.  In addition, CJM Chair was involved in summer 2000 in selection of new NCC Chair to assume office in January 2001.  Furthermore, Eddy Harrison, Kuniko Yamada McVey, and Hideyuki Morimoto contributed in various capacity in follow-up projects of NCC's Next Decade Planning Conference of March 2000, including the Union List of Japanese Serials and Newspapers, legal investigation in terms of some Japanese on-line databases, evaluation of the Multi-Volume Set Project, and electronic reference service to isolated East Asian studies researchers.  Toshie Marra also attended the Next Decade Planning Conference.

 

      CJM also tried to develop and maintain collaborating relationship with other external individuals and organizations than NCC.  Such activities included:  Toshie Marra's close monitoring of relevant development in Japan, such as establishment of a subcommittee within NII's Union Catalog Committee to prepare guidelines for cataloging of early Sino-Japanese titles and Asian studies electronic file provision at the University of Kyoto; continued communication with LC's Japanese Cataloging Teams; Kuniko Yamada McVey's nurturing of professional channels with librarians in Japan supportive of CEAL, such as NDL officials and a company history information specialist with the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations Library; various efforts by Eddy Harrison, Kuniko Yamada McVey, and Hideyuki Morimoto in reiterating to Asahi Newspaper Company North American library personnel's concerns pertaining to the Company's contract terms for subscription to DNA; and Chair's monitoring, for report to CEAL, of MARBI discussion and decisions.  CJM enormously benefited from an arrangement of a CEAL member with the Ohio State University, who secured from the University travel funds for a guest speaker to make presentation at the 2001 CJM annual session as well as at another AAS forum in Chicago.  No current CJM member had a chance to attend the eleventh Annual Meeting of the European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) held at Prague in October 2000; however, Kuniko Yamada McVey continued to follow EAJRS' activities.  CJM Chair also paid attention to development made at the Abteilung Dokumentation / Bibliothek, Japanisch-Deutsches Zentrum Berlin and innovative information service provided at the Bibliothèque, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris.

 

 

7.          Conclusion

 

      This present report of the CEAL Committee on Japanese Materials summarized the activities from period January 2000 to December 2000, in reference to CEAL reporting regulations based on the calendar year system.  The report covered the following topics:  (1) Committee membership; (2) Committee annual sessions; (3) Committee workshop; (4) Committee activities; (5) functions within CEAL; and (6) collaboration with relevant external individuals and organizations.  CJM for term 1999-2002 made much progress in its activities, with new initiatives and modifications necessitated by shifting external factors, in 2000.  It is anticipated that, through expanded engagement in Committee activities by current Committee members, the Committee will further respond to ever-changing and additional needs of CEAL members within the realm of Japanese studies information services operations.