Library Management

The development and present state of library services to children in Japan

Kenji Kanna,
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Kenji Kanna, (2003) "The development and present state of library services to children in Japan", Library Management, Vol.
24 Issue: 1/2, pp.79-85, doi: 10.1108/01435120310454548
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The development and
present state of library
services to children in
Japan
Kenji Kanna
The author
Downloaded by UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA At 22:50 11 April 2017 (PT)
Kenji Kanna Is Professor of Library and Information
Science, Faculty of Letters, Baika Women's College,
Osaka, Japan. E-mail: kanna@baika.ac.jp
Keywords
Children, Libraries, Japan, Library management
Abstract
Provides a general description of the movement for library
services for children and children's libraries, together with
the modern public library movement in post-war Japan.
The Bunko as a home library, or a community-based small
library, is quite characteristic of Japan. The Bunko
movement played an important role in improving the
reading environment of children and the library service for
children. The Chusho-report (1963) and Shimin-no-
Toshokan (1970) changed the concept of the public library
in Japan. They contributed to an increase in reading
facilities for children and the establishment of new public
libraries. Children's libraries at the national, public and
private level are also described.
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Library Management
Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . pp. 79-85
# MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120310454548
79
Introduction
This paper describes the development and
present state of library services to children in
post-war Japan. It will consider the Bunko
(home library) and children's libraries, both
private and public, together with a description
of the modern public library movement after
the Second World War. So this paper reports
the Japanese situation concerning library
services for children and children's libraries.
The word ``library'' is used here in a broad
sense.
General background to the post-war
library movement
The war came to an end in August 1945
under Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam
Declaration with unconditional surrender.
The following year, the US Educational
Mission paid a visit to Japan and made a
number of important recommendations. One
of the recommendations concerned public
libraries. This encouraged librarians who
were longing for the establishment of a
Library Law suited to the construction of the
new cultural state in Japan. Library leaders,
the Ministry of Education and the Civil
Information and Education Section of the US
occupation forces took part in framing the
law. As a result, the Library Law was enacted
in April 1950 and provided a basic concept of
the public library, as well as guidelines for its
management.
The US Educational Mission and the Civil
Information and Education Section also took
up the issue of school libraries. This led the
Ministry of Education to recognise the
importance of the role of school libraries in
pursuing the revitalisation and
democratisation of Japanese education. To
assist in this process, the Ministry of
Education published the School Library Guide
in 1948. In 1950, the Japan School Library
Association was organised as a body
representing local school library associations.
In the same year the School Library Division
was established within the Japan Library
Association which had been founded in 1892
and whose official bulletin, Toshokan Zasshi
(the Library Journal), first appeared in 1907.
As a result the School Library Law was
enacted in 1953. These moves gave those who
had a great concern about education the
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
incentive to organise and operate school
libraries throughout the nation. At the same
time, workshops and other activities were held
to promote the understanding of school
libraries, because not all teachers fully
appreciated the function and role of school
libraries, as well as the their importance and
necessity in education in the schools.
The school library law ensured that each
school should have a library as an
indispensable and fundamental facility for
education, but the law did not make a definite
promise to place a ``Shisho-kyoyu (teacher-
librarian)'' at each school although the law
made provision for the establishment of the
``Shisho-kyoyu'' system. (Shisho-kyoyu is a
professional school librarian with ten credits
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in five subjects on school librarianship in
addition to a teacher certificate).
Unfortunately, this Article has a
Supplementary Provision stating that a
``School may defer compliance concerning
Shisho-kyoyu for the present, notwithstanding
the provision of Article 5, paragraph 1''. Since
then this provision has been in effect and
school libraries have hardly been functioning
as ``a library in the school'' as was originally
intended. Recently in 1997 the law was
amended concerning this provision and so the
placement of Shisho-kyoyu will be put into
effect on 1 April, 2003.
Thus legal support was provided for the
library world in Japan. However, it was in the
latter half of the 1960s and the beginning of
the 1970s that public libraries started a
remarkable development in Japan. Until this
time, public libraries had been occupied and
used by students who were preparing for the
entrance examinations. These students did
not borrow books and only used the library as
a place for study. Moreover, the public
libraries paid little attention to library services
for children at this time.
Bunko and its activities: its impact on
the public library movement
During the period when Japan had few public
libraries after the war and such public libraries
did not pay much attention to library service
for children, a handful of mothers and other
adults set up what is now called Katei Bunko,
or home library, to improve the situation of
their children's reading environment. The
home library, which is a mini library, has a
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Library Management
Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
small collection of children's books
accommodated in private homes which is
offered for the use of the children in the
neighbourhood.
In the beginning, the home library was
literally a ``home'' endeavour carried out by
individuals who seriously cared for their
children's sound development through
reading. The idea was started by a handful of
people in the 1950s, grew steadily in the
1960s, and spread widely in the 1970s. In this
way the concept of Katei Bunko caught the
attention of many people. As a result many of
these Bunko sprung up all over the nation.
The more recent ones are located at places
such as Kominkan, or community centres, and
are managed by groups of interested people,
especially mothers. They are also called
Chiiki Bunko, or community-based small
libraries. Such Bunko not only lend books but
also periodically provide such programs as
storytelling, reading aloud, picture-story
shows, finger plays and puppet shows. In the
1970s our schools found themselves
confronted with various difficult problems
such as violence, bullying, children suffering
from school phobia, or children committing
suicide. Most schools took countermeasures
to enforce stronger control over children.
Bunko keepers instinctively felt the danger of
this, and wanted to secure for children a place
where they could be free from the pressure of
studies, of competition: and of uniformity of
values. So several Bunko began: to offer
children various non-book-related programs,
such as hiking or camping, crafts: simple
scientific experiments, or just playing games.
Along with the spread of the Bunko
movement, mothers who had themselves
returned from a family assignment overseas
started to open Bunko in their communities.
Opal Dunn, the founder of the International
Children's Bunko movement, founded the
first Bunko for international bilingual/
bicultural children: Dan Dan Bunko with the
help of Yukiko Kobayashi and Reiko
Yamanouchi in Tokyo in 1977. In June 1979,
the International Children's Bunko
Association was established to facilitate
networking between growing numbers of IC
Bunko and provide seminars on children's
books, their writers and illustrators, for IC
Bunko staff. Mrs Dunn explained the
importance of Bunko on the occasion of the
10th anniversary of the International
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
Children's Bunko Association in 1989 as
follows:
The word Bunko is now used naturally in
English, French and German speech as is
origami and ikebana. The concept of Bunko,
however, has not yet spread beyond IC Bunko
overseas, but its potential is beginning to be
understood. Perhaps the next stage is to think of
transmitting the idea of Bunko beyond Japanese
society. Bunko is unique in its flexibility and the
degree of caring that staff can offer to each
member. Reading a book is about making a
relationship with a book; it seems that young
children find it easier to make a relationship with
a book when an enthusiastic adult presents it to
them. Recent research in England shows that
regular sharing of a book by a parent and a child
motivates and increases the child's joy in reading
and in the love of books. This is the case even
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where the mother is an immigrant and cannot
understand the language of the book. Surely this
sharing and caring is the very essence of Bunko
(Dunn, 1989).
Accordingly, Bunko, whether run in Japanese,
English, French, German or other languages,
has the same unique qualities. As already
mentioned, a Bunko is small, personal and
has been adapted to the needs of the
community for which it has been established
and is run by community leaders, mothers
and other book-loving persons. Bunko can be
opened where and when it is best suited to the
community needs, being free from the
restrictions of bureaucracy. Within the
Bunko, choice and presentation of books and
related activities are the decision of the Bunko
keepers. Therefore, each Bunko has its own
individual characteristics within the same
organisational framework.
Such small libraries, even with their
inadequate space and collections, can still
attract children and offer them substantial
services. That indicates how great is the
potential for a proper library service.
A national survey on Bunko has been
conducted five times in 1958, 1970, 1974,
1980, and 1993 respectively. The findings
indicate that the number of Bunko was 60 in
1958, 265 in 1970, 2,065 in 1974, 4,406 in
1980, and 3,872 in 1993. Only 386 Bunko
out of a total of 3,872 receive some subsidy
from local governments. It is quite usual for
most public libraries to lend a certain number
of books to the Bunko in order to support
their reading materials.
The Bunko movement will surely be a force
to improve library services for children where
such services already exist, and second, to
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Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
found public libraries in cities, towns and
villages where there are none. In the future,
the Bunko will become key stations for
bookmobile visits and also after-school
gathering places for children.
Thus, the Bunko movement has
contributed to the improvement of the
children's reading environment and in 1970
was incorporated into Oyako Dokusho Chiiki
Bunko Zenkoku Kyogikai (National Bunko
Association) which publishes a bimonthly
magazine as their official bulletin called
Kodomo to Dokusho (Children and Reading).
Their activities have given an impetus to the
establishment of public libraries in cities and
large towns.
The contribution of Chusho-report
(1963) and Shimin-no-Toshokan (1970)
The Bunko movement spread all over the
nation, and then the Japan Library
Association organised a committee of a
Medium and Small Library Management in
1960. Three years later in 1963, they
published the Management of Public
Libraries in Medium and Small Cities. This
report, known as Chusho-report (the Report for
Medium and Small Libraries, 1963), set down
proposals covering the whole aspect of library
activities, gave significant influence to the
later public library movement, and became a
bible in public libraries as an important guide
for their management. The report placed a
strong emphasis on the circulation service as
being the key function of public libraries. It
was intended for cities with a population of
50,000 to 200,000. It proposed the following
standard in order to serve 50,000 inhabitants:
. each library should add at least 5,750
books annually; and
. there should be one library for each
50,000 in population.
Hino City Library, Tokyo was the first library
to live up to the standards set by the report.
The library was opened without a library
facility of its own, but with staff and a
bookmobile. It extended its lending service to
cover the whole city area based on its motto,
``Anytime, anywhere, and to anyone'' in 1965.
Within a few years of starting its operation,
the library achieved results such that nearly 20
per cent (14,291 persons out of which 5,853
were children) of the inhabitants were
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
registered borrowers. It was a big surprise that
more than one third of the total borrowers at
this time were children. Hino City Library
offered a really good library service to
children. Hence, movements arose in large
cities such as Tokyo and Osaka to press for
the establishment of libraries, and gradually
expanded to local small cities. The citizens'
demands in these movements corresponded
to the desire of Bunko staff (mothers and
volunteers): ``we want to have our own
library''. This meant the establishment of a
library, the improvement of user facilities, the
procurement of bookmobiles, an increase in
the library materials budget, improved
services for children, and the support for the
Bunko, etc.
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Based upon the proposals of the Report for
Medium and Small Libraries, the Japan
Library Association published Shimin-no-
Toshokan (the Citizens' Library) in 1970 in its
desire to replicate the library practices
established by the Hino City Library. The
Citizens' Library was revised in 1976 in
accordance with the demands of library-
related persons and Bunko staff. It carried the
following three standards to improve the
situation of public libraries in Japan:
(1) to lend freely books requested by the
citizens;
(2) to strengthen services for children; and
(3) to organise an area-wide network to bring
the library closer to the people.
This publication spread the understanding
that service to children is an essential service
of the central, local and branch libraries. It
spurred the growth of library services for
children at many public libraries. In the same
year as the Citizen's Library was first
published, Tokyo Metropolis prepared a
statement concerning ``Problems and
measures of library policy'' whose slogan was
``the library into the daily life of the people''.
They clearly named the library service for
children as being a top priority among the
services to be offered. Tokyo was the first
local government authority to officially state
the importance of library service for children
in post-war Japan.
Promoted by the Chusho-report and Simin-
no-Toshokan and encouraged by the good
example set by Hino City Library, public
libraries started a remarkable development
throughout the nation. Therefore the two
publications have greatly contributed to the
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Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
innovation and development of public
libraries in Japan and so will be remembered
as being mileposts in the history of the post-
war library movement.
The present state of library services for
children provided by the public libraries
Up to the appearance of the Chusho-report and
Shimin-no-Toshokan, the concept of a public
library service was the traditional one that the
primary function of a library was to preserve
materials, and little attention was paid to
using them for the benefit of the general
public. For ordinary people a library was
nothing but a place of study for young
students. Since then the Chusho-report and
Shimin-no-Toshokan have brought about
major changes in the concept of a public
library service and the Bunko has grown to be
a major influence in the realm of children's
reading in the country.
Thus public libraries have witnessed a
remarkable development in both the number
of libraries and quality of services since 1965.
Certainly the past quarter of a century will be
remembered as the era in which our public
libraries have become, for the first time in our
history, a part of the everyday life of the
ordinary people. And, throughout the nation,
half of the users of public libraries are
children. According to the Statistics on
Libraries in Japan 2001, almost all cities have
libraries, but only 38 per cent of the total
number of towns and villages have libraries.
The national percentage of library
establishments has only reached 50.6 per
cent. The Japanese public library does not
usually have an independent building to
house the children's library. About 90 per
cent of the total number of public libraries
(= 2,655) only have a children's room, or
children's corner. The space occupied by
such a room or corner is approximately
100m2 to 200m2 on average. Such children's
libraries lend books to children and also
periodically provide programs such as
storytelling, reading aloud, picture-card show
(kamishibai), finger plays and puppet shows
like the Bunko do. Unfortunately, there are
few full-time children's librarians in these
libraries.
Japan has very poor training programs for
children's librarians at the colleges and
universities. So far, the Society for Children's
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
Libraries, founded in 1953, has been
endeavouring to improve the quality of the
staff working in children's libraries by training
them in librarianship. They sponsor courses
and seminars on the management of
children's libraries, provide recommendations
for children's books, promote co-operation
among other libraries and organisations, and
publish a monthly bulletin, Kodomo no
Toshokan (Children's Library). In addition, the
Japan Library Association has been offering a
15-day on-the-job-training program for the
staff of children's libraries since 1980, for the
purpose of raising the level of children's
services.
Recently, the emphasis on services for
children has been shifted to those for young
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adults. Though the environment of children's
reading has greatly improved, it is ironically
pointed out that young adults do not read
anything but comics and seldom touch the
books provided for them.
In order to improve the quality of children's
libraries, the five following recommendations
are essential if children are to be enabled to
experience the wonderful world of books and
thereby achieve children's well-being and
development:
(1) increase the number of libraries in towns
and villages;
(2) improve the better quality of services for
children, particularly young adults;
(3) encourage home reading;
(4) promote co-operation with schools in
offering the pleasure of reading; and
(5) increase the number of children's
librarians and promote their training.
Children's libraries at the national,
public and private levels
The section that follows will present a general
overview of other children's libraries: The
International Library of Children's
Literature, International Institute for
Children's Literature, Osaka, and Tokyo
Children's Library and other private
children's libraries.
The International Library of Children's
Literature (ILCL)
On 1 January, 2000, the International Library
of Children's Literature was founded as a
branch of the National Diet Library and
opened on 5 May. This library is the first
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Library Management
Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
national library of its kind in Japan. It offers
internationally linked library services for
children's books from Japan and other
countries as well as related research materials.
In addition it provides programs devoted to
enhancing the reading and information-
gathering environment for children's books
under the guidance of the principle that
children's books link the world and open up
the future.
The ILCL has three basic roles:
(1) to support the activities of local libraries,
providing direct services for children and
serving as a national centre supporting
research and study on children's
literature;
(2) to offer services for children aimed at
awakening them to the pleasures of
reading, provide opportunities to become
familiar with libraries;
(3) and to contribute to mutual
understanding among cultures.
Two digital library functions, the Digital
Archive and the Digital Museum support the
ILCL. The Digital Archive is an electronic
collection of, and provides access to, the
union catalogue database of children's
literature, a digital image database of
children's literature and related research
materials. The Digital Museum is the
construction of, and provides public access to,
digital exhibition programs displaying picture
books and other images of rare or historical
value.
The composition of the ILCL collection is
as follows:
. Children's books (Japanese) 145,000
volumes.
. Overseas 15,000 volumes.
. Reference books (Japanese) 6,000
volumes.
. Overseas 1,000 volumes.
. Japanese and overseas serials 1,850
titles.
The ILCL's homepage is available at:
www.kodomo.go.jp.
The International Institute for Children's
Literature, Osaka (IICLO)
The International Institute for Children's
Literature, Osaka began with the donation of
Mr Shin Torigoe's enormous collection of
children's literature to the Governor of Osaka
Prefecture in 1979. Mr Torigoe was a
professor at Waseda University, Tokyo at that
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
time. On 5 May, 1984, the IICLO was
formally opened in the EXPO '70
Commemoration Park in Osaka. The IICLO
was the first institute devoted to the study of
children's literature in Japan.
At the Institute they are trying to integrate
the functions of being both a research and a
service institute. Towards this end they have
provided the following facilities for adults and
children. For adults, they provide a reading
room and reference service, offer open
lectures and seminars given by the Institute
staff members several times a year and publish
an annual bulletin and a newsletter to report
the findings of the research projects. For
children, they provide a lending service and
take on the role of a children's library. Some
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30,000 volumes, including foreign picture
books, are available for loan. Audio
equipment including CD-ROMs and
cassette-tapes are available for use at the
children's library. In addition to the Torigoe
Collection, the IICLO's overall collection of
books, periodicals, and other materials
donated by authors, illustrators, scholars, and
publishers or purchased by the Institute is
approximately 260,000 volumes with 190,000
copies of 4,700 titles of periodicals.
In December 1999, the computer system
used for organising the IICLO's
bibliographical data and other news and
information was modernised. So data access
is now possible on the Internet. Detailed
information about the IICLO is available at
their homepage (http://www.iiclo.or.jp) which
also has an English language version.
Tokyo Children's Library and other
private children's libraries
The foundation of the Tokyo Children's
Library dates back to the Bunko movement
around the 1960s. Ms Kyoko Matsuoka,
children's librarian and author, was a key
person in its creation. A brief sketch of her
profile indicates that she went to the USA to
study library science and received an MA
degree from Western Michigan University
and then worked at Enoch Pratt Free Library
in Baltimore until 1963. After returning to
Japan, she worked for the Osaka Municipal
Central Library. In 1967, she started in her
house in Tokyo Matsu-no-Mi Bunko which
developed into Tokyo Children's Library in
1974 with three other well-known Bunko,
including Momoko Ishii' Katsura Bunko. The
Katsura Bunko was founded as early as 1958.
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Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
In 1965, Miss Ishii published a seven year
document on the Katsura Bunko, Kodomo no
Toshokan (Children's Library), which has been
widely read since then and is a ``must read''
for children's librarians, Bunko staff and
college students who hope to become
librarians in the future (Ishii, 1965).
The Educational Commission of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Government has accredited the
Tokyo Children's Library. This incorporated
and accredited Bunko is one of the few private
children's libraries in the country, and the
only one of its kind in Tokyo. The Library has
a small children's room and a small research
room, both open to the public. It also has a
small publishing department that issues a
quarterly journal, Kodomo Toshokan
(Children's Libraries) which features book
reviews. The research library has a special
collection of books that have been awarded
various children's book awards and prizes in
post-war Japan. This led them to compile and
publish a comprehensive reference book on
the Japanese children's book awards every five
years (Matsuoka, 1987).
From the time of its foundation, the Library
has placed a special emphasis on the
promotion of storytelling. Regular courses
and occasional workshops on the subject have
been conducted and a series of booklets
published about storytelling that also contain
stories good to tell. The name of the series of
booklets is called Ohanashi no Rosoku (Stories
Told under a Candlelight).
In addition to the Tokyo Children's
Library, there are several private children's
libraries in Japan. Four of such private
libraries are noted here.
The first one that is noteworthy is Midori
Kodomo Toshokan (Midori Children's
Library) in Nagoya. Mr Muneo Sato who is a
specialist in children's literature founded it in
1986. It is said however that the library may
have to close its operations due to financial
problems.
Yurigaoka Jido Toshokann (Yurigaoka
Children's Library) was created in 1976 by
Mr Masao Shibuya who spent his own money
on it after his retirement. The volunteer group
called Yuri-no-kai composed of mothers in
the community runs it.
The latest children's library is Hongo
Kodomo Toshokan which was opened in
Hiroshima in 2001 with the donation of the
land from Mr Akira Ohta, who is former
Professor of Education at the University of
 Development and present state of library services to children in Japan
Kenji Kanna
Tokyo. The local government built a library
facility and now volunteers also run it. They
collect an annual membership fee. The last
one is Kochi Kodomo Toshokan which is
unique in its operation. It is run by an NPO in
the community.
The services provided by these children's
libraries include lending books, storytelling,
reading aloud, Kamishibai (picture-card
show), making origami, camping, playing
nursery song games, etc.
Conclusion
This survey provides a general description of
the movement of library service for children
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and children's libraries in post-war Japan.
The Bunko movement played an important
role in improving the reading environment for
children and library services for children, and
in helping to set up public libraries. The
Chusho-report (1963) and Shimin-no-Toshokan
(1970) changed the concept of what a public
library should be. They also contributed to
the increase in reading facilities for children as
well as the establishment of new public
libraries. However, we have a problem to
solve: that is the training of librarians to serve
the reading needs of children. We do not have
an exclusive program for training these
librarians although training programs for
public librarians and teacher-librarians are
offered by over 100 universities and colleges
and more than 100 junior colleges.
Nowadays, children's books compete
against the enormous onslaught of computer
games, videos and other electronic devices.
Children should be exposed to books.
Therefore, it is still the responsibility of
librarians to know their stock intimately, and
to get books into the hands of the right child
at the right time.
So the training of librarians for children
remains closely associated with the slogan,
``Every book is a new adventure, a new
challenge''. The improvement of training
children's librarians must urgently be put in
place in Japan in order to change and facilitate
the general attitude and consciousness toward
85
Library Management
Volume 24 . Number 1/2 . 2003 . 79-85
children's reading behaviour. In so doing, the
services for children at public libraries and the
Bunko will continue to serve as vital outlets
for supplying books to children.
References
Chusho-report (Report for Medium and Small Libraries)
(1963), Japan Library Association, Tokyo.
Dunn, O. (1989), ``How to encourage children to read
good books'', ICB 10th Anniversary Forum,
International Children's Bunko Association, Tokyo,
pp. 11-18.
Ishii, M. (1965), Kodomo no Toshokan (Children's Library),
Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo.
Matsuoka, K. (1987), ``The Japanese child in a changing
world'', in Jagusch, S. (Ed.), Window on Japan:
Japanese Children's Books and Television Today:
Papers from a Symposium at the Library of
Congress, November 18-19, 1987, US GPO,
Washington, DC.
Shimin-no-Toshokan (Citizen's Library) (1970), Japan
Library Association, Tokyo.
Further reading
Editorial Committee of Librarianship in Japan, (1986),
Libraries in Japan, Japan Organizing Committee of
IFLA, Tokyo.
Koritsu Toshokan ni okeru Yangu Adaruto Sabisu Jittai
Chosa Hokoku (A Report on Young Adults Service at
Public Libraries) (1993), Japan Library Association,
Tokyo.
Miyake, O. (Ed.) (1997), Children' Right in the Multimedia
Age; Proceedings of the Fourth Pacific Rim
Conference on Children's Literature, The Scarecrow
Press, Lanham, MD.
Nakata, Y. (1999), ``Ima, Toshokan de Kodomotachi ha
(``Children at public libraries now''), Nihon Jido
Bungaku (Japanese Children's Literature), Vol. 45
No. 2, pp. 6-14.
Nihon Toshokan Kyokai Jido Seishonen Iinkai, (Ed.)
(2000), Hiraite Goran Himitsu no Tobira (Children's
Door to Reading: Children's Libraries, Today and
Tomorrow), Japan Library Association, Tokyo.
Nihon no Toshokan: Tokei to Meibo (Statistics on Libraries
in Japan) (2001), Japan Library Association, Tokyo.
Zenkoku Kodomo Bunko Chosa Jikko Iinkai (1995),
Kodomo no Yutakasa o Motomete 3 (A Report on
the Bunko 3: Children's Library Movement by Local
Volunteers), Japan Library Association (A Report on
the Bunko 1 was published in 1984 and 2 in 1989),
Tokyo.