NCC News: News

Specialist Spotlight: Toshinori Egami

Through our Specialist Spotlight series we periodically shine a spotlight on librarians and information specialists who are often behind the scenes working to support students, faculty, and staff. Whether you’re in the classroom to learn or teach or are conducting research near or far, these hardworking individuals make Japanese Studies possible.

This month we are delighted to shine our specialist spotlight on Toshinori Egami, Librarian at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 国際日本文化研究センター (Nichibunken). At Nichibunken, Egami shares his expertise in global perspectives on Japanese Studies libraries, rare books, and information science to facilitate the accessibility of Japan-related research resources.

Egami’s specialist path began with a Bachelor’s degree in 1995 from Kyoto University. He then earned a Master’s degree in Japanese Philology and Literature from Kyoto University in 1997, followed by acquiring librarianship certifications from Kyoto University. He has always maintained a diverse body of teaching and research experiences, serving as an adjunct lecturer at Tamagawa University (2005-2020) in library and information services, at Aichi Shukutoku University (2011) in library services, at Ritsumeikan University (2009 to present) in media information sciences, and Doshisha University (2012 to present) in library and information resources. He has also simultaneously served in librarianship roles at Kyoto University’s Engineering Library (1998-2001), Kyoto University’s main library (2001-2004), Kyoto University’s Informatics Library (2005-2007), as a visiting librarian at the Harvard-Yenching Library (2007-2008), and finally arrived at Nichibunken in 2008, where he has been ever since. These roles in education and scholarship reflect Egami’s broad knowledge base and training in and beyond library and information science.

Egami’s publications similarly reflect his deep interest in how people use library resources and global engagements with Japanese materials. He published his book 『本棚の中のニッポン : 海外の日本図書館と日本研究』(Japan on Bookshelves: Japanese Libraries and Japan Studies Overseas) in 2012. A wide variety of papers include reports on Japanese resources in France and in Italy, information literacy at U.S.-based institutions, challenges to overseas ILL and cataloging services, a chapter in 『デジタル・アーカイブとは何か : 理論と実践』(What are Digital Archives?: Theory and Practice), and much, much more.

As a part of his outreach contributions to the global community of Japan Studies specialists, Egami participates in the OCLC WorldShare ILL for document delivery to overseas libraries, a presentation on which can be viewed on the 2023 図書館総合展フォーラム (Library Fair & Forum) webpage. Last year he also held a panel discussion on the intersection of digital resources and university library support systems from European and Japanese perspectives entitled 日欧DHクロストークー大学図書館による研究支援のこれから (Europe-Japan DH Crosstalk: the Future of Research Support by University Libraries). As a member of the editorial board of the National Diet Library’s journal Current Awareness, Egami similarly works to globalize our understandings of Japan Studies by introducing bilingual articles on library and library and information science to diverse audiences.

At NCC, Egami has been an active contributor, serving as the Japanese representative for the Digital Resource Committee from 2008 to 2014, as a liaison for the Resource Sharing Committee, and since 2019 as a part of the Outreach Working Group. His insights into multilingual databases, publications, and other materials has been an invaluable part of our ability to communicate helpful information on research and teaching to scholars within and beyond Japan!