Keio Media Centers is the English name used by Keio University to describe its

library system A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are school, public, academic, special libraries and/or information centers. Consortia exist on a v ...

. The Media Centers (libraries) on the various Keio campuses are important information resources for students, faculty, and researchers. Together, they constitute one of the major academic information storehouses in Japan, holding more than 4.2 million books and publications.Keio Media Centers top page
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Worldcat/OCLC

Keio University's libraries are fully integrated into the international shared-cataloging system known as OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) and

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

, both names being used interchangeably today for the world's largest

bibliographic Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

database. In 2002, Keio University was the first Japanese university library to formally join the

Research Libraries Group The Research Libraries Group (RLG) was a U.S.-based library consortium that existed from 1974 until its merger with the OCLC library consortium in 2006. RLG developed the Eureka interlibrary search engine, the RedLightGreen database of bibliograp ...

(RLG), an international consortium of research libraries, archives and museums linked though OCLC. RLG linked more than 140 partner institutions through OCLC, into which it merged in 2006. At the Keio Media Centers, OCLC’s comprehensive global catalog database is fully coordinated and integrated in Worldcat.

Media Center facilities

Although the holdings and other elements of the library system are physically separated across a number of campuses, all are linked in an integrated catalog access system.

Mita Media Center

The Mita Media Center evolved directly from the Keio University library, created in 1912. The library's collection expanded into a new building in 1982. A combined total of 2.3 million books are housed in the Mita Media Center. A gothic, red-brick library was built in 1912 on the Mita campus ( Mita,

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits ...

). This structure has since been known as a symbol of Keio University, and now serves as an archive and venue for functions; it is recognized as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese Government.

Hiyoshi Media Center

On the Hiyoshi campus (

Hiyoshi Strand of ginkgo trees at Keio University is a part of the city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located within Kōhoku Ward in the northeast of Yokohama City. Overview It is served by Hiyoshi Station on the Tōkyū Tōyoko L ...

, Kōhoku-ku,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

Kanagawa is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanagaw ...

), the Hiyoshi Media Center was designed primarily as a library for first- and second-year students, who enjoy ready access to academic books as well as a wide variety of general-interest videos, DVDs, and CDs. The media center provides access to online databases and electronic journals.

Media Center for Science and Technology

The Yagami Campus (Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa), home to the Faculty of Science & Technology and the Graduate School of Science & Technology, has the Media Center for Science and Technology. This part of the university library system specializes in science and engineering materials.

Shinanomachi Media Center

Keio's School and Graduate School of Medicine are on the Shinanomachi campus ( Shinanomachi,

Shinjuku, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

); the Shinanomachi Media Center is Keio's medical library.

SFC Media Center

The

Shōnan is the name of a region along the coast of Sagami Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture, central Japan. Centered on Sagami River, about 60 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, the Shōnan region stretches from Ninomiya in the west to Fujisawa in the east, i ...

Fujisawa Campus ( Endo, Fujisawa-shi,

), home to the Faculties of Policy Management, Environment and Information Studies and Nursing & Medical Care and to the Graduate Schools of Media & Governance and Health Management, offers the SFC Media Center (the Shonan Fujisawa Campus Media Center), both a traditional library and a modern information processing center, with multimedia and PC stations connected to the Internet through a campus-wide LAN.

Treasures

Keio's collection of rare books and other "treasures" includes the Keio

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...

, natural history books, and medieval manuscripts. The collection of the university was begun in the late 1850s with European Illustrated Books and Manuscripts c.1400-1700. Today the library holdings have expanded to include first and second edition copies of Caxton's Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. The breadth of Western material is balanced by a collection of Japanese maps and Japanese wood-block prints.

References

* Von Eckardt, Wolf
"The Just So of the Swerve and Line,"
''Time.'' August 1, 1983.

External links

��1912, library (Important Cultural Property) * (Old Library House) * (Mita Media Center) * (Hiyoshi Media Center) * (Media Center for Science and Technology) * (Shinanomachi Media Center) * (SFC Media Center) {{Authority control Academic libraries in Japan Media Centers (Libraries)