Yoshie Doi

　The Japan Travel Bureau’s “Travel Library” is a library that mainly houses research and materials on tourism culture, and although there are 104 libraries (KARIL-compatible libraries) in Kyoto City, none of them are affiliated with the tourism department.

　The Onna Village Cultural Information Center in Okinawa is a facility that combines tourism and a library. There is a resort hotel in this small village of 10,000 people, and in 2015 a library was established in a village that did not have one before. It is a complex facility that combines tourist information and library functions, and various ingenious ideas have been put into it.

　If Kyoto, one of the world’s leading tourist libraries, had such a facility, it would be a facility eagerly awaited by both locals and tourists. I hope that the staff will be staffed with concierges who are qualified librarians to provide convenience to users and contribute to increasing the appeal of Kyoto. I hope that they will also work to provide information in both Japanese and English, so that they can promote the appeal of Kyoto both domestically and internationally.

　In addition, the Nara Prefectural Library and Information Center offers special book lending to guests staying at the Hotel Nikko Nara, so why not consider making efforts to do the same in Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City as well?

　The International Research Center for Japanese Studies (located in Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City) has an atmosphere that makes you feel as if you have wandered into the magical world of Harry Potter. I enjoy visiting the center when it is open to the public.

(Continued in the next issue)

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Translated by Masami Otani

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