The most popular service is a concierge desk for international students. There, you can receive help in four languages—English, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian. Each concierge is a native speaker of each language, and they are all fluent in Japanese too. A Japanese concierge also exists for the Japanese students. According to Ms. Mika Yokoyama, a librarian, the number of Indonesians utilizing the library is rapidly increasing.
“Inquiries by students vary extremely,” Ms. Yokoyama said. They are from how to find books suitable for a certain theme to how to utilize the library. Some students actually ask about how to write papers for assignments, or about unclear points in some lectures, etc. Whatever the question is, the concierge tries to relieve students’ concerns. On the third floor, you can find a section of displayed books recommended by the concierge.
On the second floor, you will find shelves of English books on the left side. That place is called the “Extensive English Reading and Readers Corner.” It was founded based on the idea that reading as many books in English as possible naturally improves English proficiency. Each book is color-coded. Red is the easiest level. The next level is orange then yellow, green, and finally blue—the most difficult. As the difficulty level increases, the amount of reading increases too. At the beginning of the school year, this corner got so crowded with students that the library staff was very surprised.
The fourth floor is an archive where books from the Edo and Meiji Periods are stored. Many hand scrolls are preserved in good condition too. There is another room there for “The Kano Collection.” It is the private collection of the educationist Kokichi Kano who was a president of Kyoto University, and active in the Meiji Period. A limited number of graduate students were able to view the materials, and according to Ms. Yokoyama, “they always gasp in pleasure, feeling as though they time-traveled!”
The library offers a wireless internet access service, so you can bring your own laptop, or your smartphone. When the construction is completed in October, the whole library will be renewed, including the annex building. Tohoku University’s library is free from fixed concepts (e.g. that a library is just for quietly studying), and aims at being a space for spending enriching time. There is a lot to look forward to at the library.