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Japan Project Advisory Committee (JPAC) Update

August 6, 2004

North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources

JPAC Phase II was officially established:

With the conclusion of its charge, the initial JPAC (Phase I) was disbanded as of December 2003. At the January 2004 meeting, the Council agreed to establish the Japan Project Advisory Committee as a standing committee of the NCC and suggested names for candidates of the new committee members. After the meeting Vickey and I further discussed the candidates based on the Council’s recommendations and decided to ask the following members to serve on the new JPAC:

Tokiko Yamamoto Bazzell (Japan Specialist Librarian, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Sheldon Garon (Professor of History, Princeton University)

Karl Lo (Librarian Emeritus, University of California, San Diego)

Eiko Sakaguchi (JPAC co-chair, Curator of the East Asian and Gordon W. Prange Collections, University of Maryland)

Michael Smitka (JPAC co-chair; Professor of Economics, Washington and Lee University)

Syun Tutiya (Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences, Chiba University)

After confirming with each candidate his/her willingness to serve on the committee, the new JPAC was finally formed. In order to allow for smooth rotations, terms of service are staggered between the new members (July 2004 to June 2007) and those remaining members (Tokiko and Karl, July 2004 to June 2006).

Charges to the new JPAC are:

1) Keeping in mind the recommendations made by the JPAC Phase I, to take note of any new or developing projects that seek to expand access to library and information resources of use to faculty and students within the field of Japanese Studies or more broadly and that might benefit from Japan Project assistance, and report these initiatives to the NCC

* The JPAC Phase I’s recommendations are:

Creating an open archive of Web resources

Providing more convenient access to Japanese language newspapers and magazines

Serving as a clearinghouse for Japanese government reports

Promoting digitization of rare holdings and making them accessible on the Web

2) To consult with colleague and graduate students about problems they may encounter in gaining access to vital research materials and report those needs (or problems) to NCC; and,

3) To think particularly about emerging areas of scholarship within Japanese Studies along or that cross geographical or disciplinary borders and suggest to NCC for further discussion with GRN members from other world areas.

A welcoming letter to serve on the JPAC along with a copy of the report written by JPAC Phase I in September 2003 which had proposed several potential projects was sent to each committee member on July 1, 2004.

Submitted by Toshie Marra