Japan School Library Association (JSLA) bi-annual conference

The 33rd General Conference of the Japan School Library Association (JSLA) was held from 30 July to 1 August, 2002 [Schedule in Japanese available from http://www.j-sla.or.jp/oshirase/yokohama.html]. About 3,300 school librarians and teachers gathered in Yokohama, for the three-day conference. The theme was "School libraries that expanded networks for learning" and all were able to attend some of the lectures, discussion sessions, workshops, visits to school libraries in Yokohama, and other events.

ILCL services for school libraries

Ms. Mikiko Tomita, Director General of the International Library of Children's Literature (ILCL) was also invited as a lecturer to the JSLA conference, and she talked about the activities of ILCL after the opening of its complete facilities on May 5, 2002. As ILCL is receiving much attention, over 200 people came to listen to her. In the lecture, she gave the news about starting the book lending service for schools and the reference and copy services for school libraries within the scope of the ILCL collection.

The reference and copy services and Inter-Lending Loan Services are already available. The book lending service to school libraries will start this November. The lending service lets school libraries borrow, for a month, a box of about 40 books, which include not only Japanese books about a country/region but also books published in the country/region. To begin with, sets featuring Korea and the Nordic countries are being prepared.