PAC Japan
Hosted by the National Diet Library (NDL) in Tokyo, Japan.
Frequently Asked Questions:
In case of disaster…having a disaster plan
Paper conservation by using Japanese paper, washi
About the Centre:
The NDL is the sole legal deposit library in Japan. It preserves a wealth of materials acquired through the years as national cultural properties and makes them available to the National Diet (parliament), the judicial and executive branches of the government, and the public. The Library’s collections include more than 43 million items in total (as of March 2018) and it acquires about 0.8 million items every year.
Based on experience and knowledge, the PAC Regional Centre for Asia organises training programs, dispatches staff members as lecturers outside and inside Japan, holds events and provides manuals and information online to promote preservation and conservation not only in Japan, but also in other Asian countries.
The Centre’s other activities include;
- Transmitting information through distributing, translating and contributing to the publications of IFLA/PAC;
- Receiving trainees from abroad;
- Promoting cooperation networks for preservation;
- Promoting IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
Expertise
The Preservation Division has years of experience in repairing various kinds of damaged paper materials from the vast collections of the NDL. The NDL is also very active in digitization of its collections and has digitized nearly 2.7 million items so far. In addition, after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the preservation staff has been gaining experience in conservation work on materials damaged by earthquakes, tsunami and floods, and giving support to libraries affected by disasters.
In the area of preservation and conservation, the NDL has particular strengths in:
- Paper conservation, especially conservation using traditional Japanese paper;
- Digitisation;
- Disaster preparedness, and salvage and treatment of damaged materials.
Information about the Centre’s activities, including Japanese translations of the IFLA/PAC publications, are available on the website of the NDL: http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/preservation/index.html