Críticas Magazine

Loida García-Febo

Japan: Yokohama Public Library
August 6, 2008

I just returned from a two-week working trip to Manila and Tokyo. I presented workshops for IFLA/FAIFE. I also gave a presentation at the US Embassy in Tokyo and took meetings with various librarians, professors and researchers. There was a library which health-related services impressed me: the Yokohama Public Library. I thought of sharing with you…

Yokohama is the second largest city of Japan. It has 2.6 million residents and 18 public libraries. Located 30 minutes from Tokyo, Yokohama PL welcomes 4,000 users every day- including 10 homeless people living in its premises. Yokohama is the most multicultural city of Japan. The Central Library of Yokohama PL houses collections in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.   

The beauty about Yokohama PL is their very popular Health Corner where they display books and materials to raise awareness about different health conditions. The section includes newsletters, guidelines and brochures developed by local and national medical associations, health public centers and the government. A selection of pathfinders on specific diseases was recently added to the display. Cancer is particularly highlighted. The Health Corner is geared to doctors, nurses and customers.  The library is heavily used by local doctors, nurses and health practitioners!

Yokohama librarians have also established a schedule for ‘train the trainers’ workshops to train librarians from their system. The workshops aim to teach librarians how to establish medical libraries and health corners, best practices, how to use medical information, how to coordinate programs, and how to collect and evaluate information. Other libraries training staff are the Tokyo Metropolitan Library and the Tottori Prefectural Saitama City Library.

When I visited the library, the staff at Yokohama PL was busily scheduling programs about how to deal with the heat. They were also following up on a workshop about cancer support groups. The staff expressed interest in obtaining more information about HIV/AIDS as well as presenters for programs.

I am looking forward to replicate some of the services offered by Yokohama PL. I’ve visited many countries and it is the first time that I’ve seen a health corner at a library outside the USA. Health conditions are very important to all of us… customers appreciate when libraries offer health-related collections, programs and services.

Posted by Loida García-Febo on August 6, 2008 | Comments (1)