Conference 3-D: Abstract

In March 2010 NCC held its once-in-a-decade planning conference, this one dubbed 3-D (the Third Decade Planning Conference). This page archives 3-D planning, its programs, and the recommendations that came out of each of the six breakout sessions and the final recommendations of the 115 international participants. A number of new NCC services and working groups have already resulted from 3-D, these include, the creation of this new LibGuides-based Website, expansion of the Multi-Volume Sets Grant Guidelines to earmark 40% of grant funds for grants to smaller institutions, The Team-Building Workshops Series that are developing new curriculum nationally, the Online Guide to Japanese Museums, Libraries, and Archives providing English language information about major Japanese institutions of interest to foreign scholars and students, and the Global Access to Japan Summit that will take place in Yokohama in November 2012. 

3-D also led to expanded services for existing NCC programs such as the Global ILL Framework with over 245 institutional members, the work of the Digital Resources Committee and its creation of the Subjects Guide Portal, and expansion of the Image Use Protocol Website.  New working groups were also created focused on cooperative collection development, and developing best practices for planning for conservation of documents after disasters like that which occurred in Japan in 2011.  

3-D was an extraordinarily productive and intense two days that will drive NCC programs and services for the decade to come, through the year 2020, the materials below provide greater detail on that extraordinary conference and its outcomes. NCC is increasingly involved in deeper international cooperations and stands ready to join others in collaborating further to strengthen understanding of Japan.   

March 22-23, 2010 at the University of Pennsylvania 
In co-sponsorship with its Center for East Asian Studies 
In cooperation with the Greater Philadelphia Asian Studies Consortium Faculty Group

Abstract

The landscape of teaching and research on Japan has changed radically since 1991 when the NCC (North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources) embarked on its mission of service to the field. In the nearly two decades since NCC began, the sources of potential knowledge on Japan have greatly expanded. New forms and formats of Japanese information are fueling emerging areas of scholarship mining bodies of knowledge rarely seen and little known 20 years ago. Yet in the presence of such potential, we face stark financial realities.

In its third decade NCC must lead the field by doing more to advocate for broader access to information resources and by supporting the knowledge creation that new media enables. The NCC's 3-D Conference will bring together an international group of faculty and information specialists to help NCC envision new programs, fortify international collaborations, and implement new services to provide access to knowledge on Japan for faculty, undergraduates, and the graduate students who will assume leadership positions in the field in the decade to come.

The new digital information environment is changing the way users find and obtain information on Japan. At the same time faculty and librarians face massive budget cuts, heavier demands are placed on their time, support services are reduced, and funds for research and travel are more limited. As libraries increasingly restructure positions following more technical and fewer topical criteria those without access to East Asian specialist librarians will certainly grow. In the coming decade it will be NCC's mission to find more and better ways to serve all users and to facilitate their access to larger bodies of knowledge on Japan through digital means.

In this constantly changing environment NCC continues to be a clearinghouse for Japanese information leveraging scarce resources to benefit all users, and an important collaborator with institutions internationally to bring Japanese knowledge to the fingertips of all those interested in Japan.

NCC's 3-D Conference has received funding from the Japan-US Friendship Commission, the Japan Foundation, the Toshiba International Foundation and the Northeast Asia Council of the AAS. 

Conference Goal

Strengthen collaborative networks among Japanese information stakeholders to improve and support global access to Japanese information resources

Victoria Lyon Bestor, Executive Director

617-945-7294 (Telephone)
617-812-5854 (Fax)

vbestor@fas.harvard.edu

Webmaster webmaster@nccjapan.org