[Feature: Encountering Books] Hiroe Nagano: Providing Encounters with Books at a University Library — Initiatives at the Hiyoshi Media Center

2023/08/08

At the Hiyoshi Campus, where the Hiyoshi Media Center (Hiyoshi Library) is located, first- and second-year undergraduate students study. Among them, some feel that the university library has a high threshold and is irrelevant to them. In seminars introducing document searches, I always ask, "Who has never entered the Hiyoshi Library? Who has never borrowed a book?" and a certain number of students raise their hands not only in the spring semester but also in the fall semester.

In other words, no matter what we do, we first need to get them to come to the library. To encourage students to choose the library as a place to be and to spend their free time between classes comfortably, we placed large sofas in front of the magazine shelves and renovated the space so they can read magazines in a relaxed atmosphere. Furthermore, in the light reading corner on the second floor called the Balcony Collection, we removed old-fashioned chairs and desks and carried out renovations such as placing coffee tables and single-seater sofas.

We also hold various events. As part of the HAPP (Hiyoshi Art & Performance Project), the Hiyoshi Library holds classical and jazz library concerts every spring. This is an attempt to provide regular library users with the opportunity to hear professional performances while also encouraging students unfamiliar with the library to visit.

Furthermore, we hold talk shows where student learning advisors give advice based on their own experiences about what to do at the Hiyoshi Campus before moving on to other campuses like Mita, as well as Bibliobattles where students introduce their favorite books. We are devising ways to make even those students who keep their distance—viewing the library as a place for reading difficult books or for people who study—feel like they want to step inside.

The Hiyoshi Library also plays a role in providing students with opportunities to encounter new fields different from the classes they are taking. Every spring, we hold an exhibition where three or four faculty members from different fields introduce recommended books. The books introduced may be related to the faculty member's field of expertise or books that impressed the faculty member themselves during their university days. This exhibition is very popular, and almost all the books exhibited are checked out every year.

We also conduct projects that incorporate the student's perspective. At the Hiyoshi Media Center, there are student volunteers called Library Friends. As their first event each year, they go together to large bookstores in Tokyo for a "Book Selection Tour" to choose books they like and want to add to the library, and then they create an exhibition showing the books they bought.

In the fall semester, we also hold a project called "Book Lucky Bags." In this project, Library Friends select two or three books based on a theme and display them in opaque bags. Visitors borrow the entire bag of books based on the theme and brief description attached to the bag. This project is also very popular, and sometimes all of them are borrowed even if we prepare nearly 100 bags.

Furthermore, the Hiyoshi Library has a permanent New Arrivals corner. Newly acquired books are displayed here for one week. At the same time, information on new arrivals is displayed in a list on the website. Both are frequently viewed, and if the new arrival information on the website is not updated correctly, we receive inquiries almost immediately.

What I feel through these exhibitions and events is that there are many people who are interested in fields they do not know and are willing to take the challenge to learn about them. A library is inherently a place that provides accidental encounters with various types of knowledge. One of the charms of a library is that materials are arranged systematically, and by walking through them, you can encounter new fields and unexpected knowledge.

Keio University, including the Hiyoshi Media Center, is actively working on the purchase and provision of electronic resources (e-books, e-journals, etc.). Electronic resources that can be viewed immediately on one's own device are very convenient, and both the number of resources provided and their usage are growing. However, electronic resources cannot be found unless you search for them. Something I often mention in the aforementioned seminars is that "there are materials that cannot be seen through search." Search keywords are limited to the scope of what you can think of. It is difficult to find books in completely unknown fields or with slightly unusual titles through searching.

Recent online bookstores have recommendation functions based on reading history, but materials that deviate significantly from that history are not displayed. Especially because they are in their first or second year and have not yet delved deeply into a specialized field, I want students to actually walk through the library and explore knowledge. To that end, the Hiyoshi Library will continue its steady efforts to reduce the number of students who do not use the library at all and to provide unexpected encounters.