Int. Libr. Rev. (1970) 2, 515-518

INTAMEL MEETING, JAPAN, 1970 AREA STUDIES

(5) The Osaka Prefectural Library?

INTRODUCTION

The Osaka Prefectural Library was built at the present site in 1903 with funds contributed by the late Baron Sumitomo. It was opened to the public in 1904 under the name of “Osaka Library”. The Osaka Pre- fectural Library is, effectively, the oldest public library in Japan, since the “Osaka Shojakukan”, the predecessor of the “Osaka Library”, opened in 1876.

The Osaka Prefectural Library is, moreover, the best equipped public library in Japan as far as book collections, services, etc., are concerned. This is borne out by the statistics given in Tables I, II and III.

TABLE I Reading room services

Visitors Books used Daily Daily

Total average Total average

Main library 584,457 2125 771,072 2804 Tennhji branch 136,601 479 196,357 689 Book stations (4) 105,148 383 184,582 677 Total 826,206 2987 1,152,Oll 4170

TABLE II Circulation services

Borrowers Books used Daily Daily

Total average Total average

Main library 38,982 142 63,329 230 Tennbji branch 5,529 19 10,666 37 Book stations (4) 37,547 140 64,143 239 Bookmobiles (4) 62,138 404 274,914 1785 Total 144,196 705 413,052 2291

t Osaka Prefectural Library, 1-Chome 27, Nakamoshuma, Kita-ku, Osaka City, Japan.

516 THE OSAKA PREFECTURAL LIBRARY

TABLE III

Daily Total average

Reference services (times used) 94,369 341 Duplication services (pages copied) 445,179 1619 New volumes acquired 40,191 Total volumes 747,131

Main library 547,759 Tennbji branch 94,929 Book stations 32,593 Bookmobiles 71,850

Budget (fiscal year 1970, not including personnel expenditure) ~171,999,OOO

Staff (including 60 professional librarians) 129

BOOK COLLECTIONS

The Library has more than 747,000 volumes in its book collection, including 6000 rare books and 120,000 foreign (Western) ones. The special and loan collections are made up as follows :

Special collections Sumitomo Collection (Science & Technology) ohara Collection (Social science) Ichikawa Collectionl(English language) Saitci Collection (English literature) Matshushita Collection (Electrical engineering) Ishizaki Collection (Japanese & Chinese classics) SatG Collection (Korean classics) Asahi-Shimbun CollecGon (Japanese classics)

Loan collections

21,872 61,763

1044 173

3000 11,000

5080 18,523

UNESCO and OECD publications (loaned by UNESCO and OECD)

Patent specificarions of six countries (loaned by Japanese Patent Office)

United States PB, AD, AEC Reports (loaned by the National Diet Library)

THE OSAKA PREFECTURAL LIBRARY 517

LIBRARY ORGANIZATION

The library is organized into three departments, seven divisions and 20 subdivisions as illustrated by the diagram below.

Director

Aaistant Director

6tian Dept Tenndji Branch Main Library

r-l d-l r-5 Public Service gg$n Commerce Public Technical Facilites General

&industry Service Service Maintenance Affairs Division Division Division Division Division Division Division

r-i Electrical Commerce @Airring Elnistry Elf

I

I

E%hwl po$$icals NdlJKll Social

Student E:= i%F

History & ~o~vhy

pu;nities General kfor;atlon

Room

The main library consists of ten subject rooms (50,000 volumes on open shelves), three stacks (each on five floors), offices and other rooms. A detailed floor plan is given in the diagrams below, showing the dates of opening of the various sections.

Commerce and Industry library 1956 Stack room 1915 Stack room 1927

518 THE OSAKA PREFECTURAL LIBRARY

Humanities -

Periodicals

The main library is located in Nakanoshima Park, in the centre of Osaka city. It is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the exception of Sundays and national holidays. The site area is 4442 ma, the building area in 2300 ms and the total floor space is 7578 ma. Seating is provided for 886 persons.

The Tenndji branch is located in Tennojr-ku, which is in the southern part of the city. It is also open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closes on Sundays and national holidays. The site area is 3248 ma, the building area is 939 ms and the total floor space is 1940 ms. There is seating for 278 persons.

The four bookstations are situated in Habikino, Izumisano, Neyagawa and Nose, and are operated in co-operation with each city. The four bookmobiles are based at the Tennoji branch and go on rounds of 17 1 stops each month.

The Osaka Prefectural Library caters in this manner for a population of 7,448,175 spread over an area of l-848 km2.