Comparing Books Held by Japanese Public Libraries:
Outsourcing versus Local Government Management
Yuhiro Mizunuma
Graduate School of Library, Information and Media Studies,
University of Tsukuba, Japanyuhiro@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp

Keita Tsuji
Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science,
University of Tsukuba, Japankeita@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp

ABSTRACT
Background. In Japan, local governments have long managed public libraries;
however, in 2003, organizations including private enterprises began to take overtheir management with the introduction of an outsourcing system, namely the“designated administrator system.” Now, whether local governments should
apply this system to public libraries is under discussion, and many argue that it isinappropriate for public libraries. Nevertheless, few studies have examined theactual differences in the services.
Objectives. The objective of this study is to clarify the differences between public
libraries managed by this outsourcing system (henceforth, “outsourcing
libraries”) and those managed directly by local governments (henceforth, “direct
management libraries”) focusing on book collections and their circulations, since
they are essential services for libraries.
Methods. We investigated books held by 373 outsourcing libraries and 2,556
direct management libraries when considering the types of books such as Nippon
Decimal Classification (NDC) categories. The sample used included 10,000
books published in 2013, and each library's holdings and circulations of thesebooks were investigated using Calil.
Results. The results show that direct management libraries tend to hold novels
more than outsourcing libraries, whereas outsourcing libraries tend to holdreference books more than direct management libraries. It was also found that therates of books being borrowed in outsourcing libraries were higher than those indirect management libraries.
Contributions. The result of this study can be used when discussing whichcollections are more appropriate, that is, those in outsourcing libraries or in direct
management libraries.
INTRODUCTION
In Japan, local governments have long managed public libraries; however, in 2003,
organizations including private enterprises began to take over their management with theintroduction of an outsourcing system, namely the “designated administrator system.”Although the number of public libraries managed under this outsourcing system (henceforth“outsourcing libraries”) is increasing, whether local governments should apply this system topublic libraries is under discussion. Many argue that it is inappropriate for public libraries andfor their collection developments. Nevertheless, few studies have examined collections in
outsourcing libraries.
Within this context, this study investigates the difference between outsourcing libraries
and “traditional” libraries managed directly by local governments (henceforth “direct
management libraries”), with a focus on book collections. More specifically, we comparedoutsourcing and direct management libraries with regard to: (a) the characteristics of books,
and (b) the number of books being borrowed. As for (a), the following eight types ofcharacteristics were considered: (1) Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC) categories, (2) CCode, (3) whether the book is listed in “Shukan-Shinkan-Zenten-Annai (Weekly Guide on
Newly Published Books)” (henceforth Weekly Guide), (4) the book’s evaluation score in the
Weekly Guide, (5) whether the book is an assigned reading book as “Kadaitosho (assigned
book for National Youth Book Report Contest)” (henceforth assignment books), (6) whether
the review of the book appeared in newspapers (henceforth reviewed books), (7) whether thebook is out of print, and (8) its price. We chose 10,000 books, which were published in 2013as our sample books; and the holdings of 373 outsourcing libraries and 2,556 direct
management libraries were investigated using “Calil (https://calil.jp/).” Calil is a free Web
service that can perform cross-library searches concerning libraries in Japan. We also
investigated the number of books being borrowed concerning our sample of 10,000 books
over a certain period by using Calil.
Moreover, we classified libraries according to type, such as (a) whether they were main
libraries or annexes, and (b) the type of municipality they served. We also classified
outsourcing libraries (c) according to the form of administrator, such as a private enterprise or
an NPO, and (d) according to the specific administrator, such as T Company and H
Foundation. For each category, we examined the differences between outsourcing and direct
management libraries.
RELATED STUDIES
Few studies have examined the collections of outsourcing libraries in Japan. In 2016, to
examine whether controversial books were fairly held by public libraries, Ohba et al. (2016)
investigated the numbers of collections of books on the subject of “the right to collective
defense” in 5,003 Japanese libraries. Along with many other results, they showed that thetendencies of outsourcing and direct management libraries were almost the same with regard
to holding such books. Ikezawa (2016) analyzed 8,343 books that Ebina City Library (anoutsourcing library) planned to acquire with its renewal. He concluded that there were somebiases on book subjects, finding that the proportions of books on cooking and travel wererelatively high and no books on law, education, mathematics, or physics were planned to beacquired.
METHODIn this section, we explain our method to select sample libraries and books, and the methodsof comparison between outsourcing and direct management libraries.

Sample Libraries
We used 3,032 public libraries from which Calil can retrieve their collections as our sample
libraries. We classified them as either outsourcing or direct management libraries based on the“Report on Public Libraries Managed by the Designated Administrator System in 2015
(Japan Library Association (2015a)).” That report includes a list of outsourcing libraries,
which we identified as outsourcing libraries for our purposes. Those that were not on that list
we identified as direct management libraries. This report also indicated when each library
introduced outsourcing. We excluded (a) outsourcing libraries that were direct management
libraries in 2013 and (b) direct management libraries that were outsourcing libraries in 2013,
from our sample libraries, because we could not judge whether the acquisition was made byoutsourcing or direct management libraries. In addition, we also excluded the libraries that did
not hold any of our sample books (we will explain the sample books in the next subsection).
The number of our sample outsourcing and direct management libraries was 373 and 2,556,
respectively.
Furthermore, we classified the libraries as either main libraries or annexes, and according
to the type of municipality served: (1) prefectural libraries, (2) ordinance-designated city
libraries, (3) Tokyo special ward libraries, (4) a city other than ordinance-designated libraries(henceforth “general city libraries”), and (5) town and village libraries. The classification was
based on “Statistics on Libraries in Japan (Japan Library Association (2015b)).” We
excluded from our sample for this type-wise analysis the libraries whose categories (i.e., main
libraries or annexes and type of municipality) were not shown in the “Statistics on Libraries
in Japan.” Due to this, the total numbers of samples shown in Table 1 were slightly different
depending on the analysis.
In addition, we classified outsourcing libraries according to the corporate form of theadministrator: (a) private enterprise, (b) NPO, (c) public corporation, or (d) other organization,using the “Report on Public Libraries Managed by the Designated Administrator System in2015 (Japan Library Association (2015a)).” Next, we identified the top three predominant
administrators (i.e., those managing the most libraries) using the “Survey on the Introductionof the Designated Administrator System” conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (2012). Table 1 shows the total number of libraries in each category of oursample. The predominant administrators are also shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Number of Sample Libraries
Outsourcing
libraries(All libraries)
Main libraries
Annexes
Prefectural libraries
Ordinance-designated city libraries
Types ofTokyo special ward libraries
municipality
General city libraries
Town and village libraries
Private enterprises
Corporate
NPOs
forms ofadministrators Public corporations
Other organizations
T Company
Predominant
V Company
administrators
H Foundation
Main vs.
Annex

373
126
247
4
48
92
188
41
289
30
45
9
101
17
11

Directmanagement
libraries
2,556
1,041
1,442
52
222
122
1,697
390

Sample Books
We used 10,000 books published in 2013 as our sample books. We selected the sample booksin the following steps:(I) We downloaded bibliographic records of books published in 2013 from the “Japanese
National Bibliography (http://ndlopac.ndl.go.jp/F/?func=find-c-0&local_base=gu_nz),”which were provided by the National Diet Library (116,844 books).
(II) We excluded bibliographic records that did not have ISBN data, because Calil only
allows us to search books by ISBN (93,169 bibliographic records were left).
(III) We randomly chose 10,000 bibliographic records from the 93,169 bibliographic records.
Concerning those 10,000 books, we investigated which ones were being held and which ones
were being borrowed in our sample libraries using Calil, from April to July 2016.
In addition, we obtained data of characteristics concerning our sample books. As
previously mentioned, the characteristics we considered were as follows: (1) NDC categories,(2) C-Code, (3) whether the book is listed in the Weekly Guide, (4) the book’s evaluation
score in the Weekly Guide, (5) whether the book is an assignment book, (6) whether the book
is a reviewed book, (7) whether the book is out of print, and (8) its price. Table 2 shows how
and when we obtained the data.
In the following, we explain NDC, C-Code, the Weekly Guide, and its evaluation system.
NDC is the most popular library classification system in Japan. The classification code
consists of three digits. We used first-level (i.e., first digit), second-level (i.e., first and second
digits), and third-level (i.e., first, second and third digits) classification codes as book
characteristics. For example, if 159 was assigned to a book as NDC categories, we used 1, 15,
and 159. Incidentally, “1,” “15,” and “159” represent “Philosophy,” “Ethics. Morals,” and“Practical ethics,” respectively.
C-Code is a classification code assigned by Japanese publishers for bookstores. C-code
consists of four numbers: first digit represents target readers (such as “5: Books for women”),
the second digit represents forms of book (such as “5: Dictionaries”), and the third and fifth
digits represent book subjects (such as “10: philosophy”).
The previously-mentioned Weekly Guide is a book catalogue used by almost all public
libraries in Japan for book selection. The Weekly Guide is published by TRC Library Service
Co. (henceforth TRC), which is a company that provides many services for libraries such asproviding book logistics systems, the management of libraries based on the outsourcing
system, and publishing the book catalogue. The Weekly Guide has a “stock books” section.
Table 2. Characteristics Analyzed

The books listed in this section have zero, one, two, or three stars as the evaluation from TRC.
Methods of comparison
In this section, we explain our methods of comparison between outsourcing and direct
management libraries. As we mentioned in the preceding subsection, we used eight types ofbook characteristics. Concerning characteristics, apart from price, we calculated each library's
holding rate (HR) for each characteristic. HR is defined as follows:
𝐻𝑅(%) =

𝑁char
× 100 (%)
𝑁all

where Nall is the total number of our sample books held by the library, and Nchar is the total
number of our sample books that had the characteristic that were held by the library.
Concerning NDC categories and C-Code, we calculated each category's HR for each library.
Concerning the evaluation score in the Weekly Guide, we calculated each evaluation's HR(from zero stars to three stars). Concerning the other characteristics, Nchar represents the total
number of sample books that correspond to each characteristic (i.e., the books assigned “yes”
in the column “Values” in Table 2) held by the library. For example, if a library (henceforth,A-library) had four sample books as shown in Table 3, HR for being listed in the Weekly
Guide was 75% (3/4), and HRs for no star and one star were 50% (2/4) and 25% (1/4),
respectively. Using NDC categories, the HR for books whose first-level classification were 1(Philosophy) was 50% (2/4). We calculated the mean (average), median, maximum, minimum,and standard deviation (SD) of HRs of outsourcing and direct management libraries, andcompared them.
Concerning price, we calculated each library's average price of books held by the library̅(𝑃), defined as follows:
𝑁

𝑃̅ =

1
∑ 𝑃𝑖
𝑁
𝑖=1

where N represents the total number of our sample books held by the library and 𝑃𝑖 represents
the price of i-th book. For example, 𝑃̅ of A-library was 1,320 Yen(=(1400+2300+800+780)/4). We calculated the mean, median, maximum, minimum, and SDof 𝑃̅ of outsourcing and direct management libraries, and compared them.
Finally, we explain the method on books being borrowed. We calculated each library's
borrowing rate (BR) defined as follows:
𝐵𝑅(%) =

𝑁borrow
× 100 (%)
𝐻all

where Nall represents the total number of our sample books held by the library and 𝑁𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤
represents the total number of sample books being borrowed in the library. For example, if
two books in Table 3 were being borrowed, the BR of A-library was 50% (2/4). We
calculated the mean, median, maximum, minimum, and SD of BR of outsourcing and direct
management libraries, and compared them.

Table 3. Example of Books Held by a Library (A-Library)
ISBN

Title

978-4-905073-04-8 Life Works Itself Out
978-4-309-24629-1 IseJingu and Japanese People
978-4-533-09243-5 Travel Guide Kumamoto, Aso, and Amakusa, Japan
978-4-04-728901-7 World Encyclopedia of Funghi

NDC
Categories

C-Code

159
175
291
726

0095
0014
9426
0076

The Weekly Guide
The evaluation
score
yes
0 (no star)yes
1 (one star)yes
0 (no star)no−

Listed…

Out of print

Its price
(Yen)

…
…
…
…

yes
yes
no
yes

1,400
2,300
800
780

RESULTSIn this section, we first reveal the results of HRs of books concerning categories (1) to (8) thatwas mentioned in the Introduction, followed by the BRs.
NDC categories
Table 4 shows the NDC categories (up to the second level) for which significant differenceswere observed between the outsourcing and direct management libraries based on Welch’s ttest at 0.05 level. “(All libraries)” represents the results for all the sample libraries. The resultsfor each type of library (as mentioned in the Introduction) are shown in the rows below “(Alllibraries).” OS and DM represent outsourcing and direct management libraries, respectively,
and NDC categories of books whose HRs in outsourcing libraries were significantly higher
than those in direct management libraries are shown in OS-row. If direct management
libraries had significantly higher rates, then the category is shown in the DM-row. For
example, Table 4 shows that outsourcing libraries had significantly higher rates for books on“General works” than direct management libraries. Numbers in parentheses represent
classification codes. Concerning that categories for administrators (i.e., the corporate forms of
the administrator and predominant administrators), we compared each category's HR with the
HR of all the sample direct management libraries. If the type of outsourcing libraries had
significantly higher rates than all direct management libraries, the category is shown in the
OS-row, and if the type of outsourcing libraries had significantly lower rates than all direct
management library, the category is shown in DM-row.
We will first explain the results for all libraries. Table 4 shows that outsourcing libraries
had significantly higher rates than direct management libraries for 22 categories such as“General works” and “Books. Bibliography.” On the other hand, direct management libraries
had significantly higher rates for only four categories i.e., (1) “Literature,” (2) “Generalcollected essays,” (3) “Domestic arts and sciences,” and (4) “Japanese literature.” Moreover,when observing third-level classification concerning these four categories, direct management
libraries had significantly higher rates than direct outsourcing libraries for (1) “Generalmiscellanies,” (2) “Handicrafts,” (3) “Fiction. Romance. Novel,” and (4) “Essays. Prose.”
These results suggest that direct management libraries tend to hold more light readingmaterial such as novels and essays than outsourcing libraries.
Similar tendencies were observed in annex libraries and ordinary city (a city that is notordinance-designated) libraries. In these libraries, direct management libraries had
significantly higher rates for “literature” and “Japanese literature.” Similar tendencies werealso observed in outsourcing libraries managed by private enterprises and T company (i.e.,these libraries had significantly lower rates for “literature” and “Japanese literature” than all
direct management libraries).

Table 4. NDC categories(All libraries)

Main libraries

Annexes

Prefecturallibraries
Ordinancedesignated city
libraries

Tokyo special
ward libraries

General works(0)， Social sciences(3)， Natural sciences(4)， Industry(6)， General works(00)， Books.
Bibliography(02)， Western philosophy(13)， General history(20)， Law(32)， Economics(33)， Education(37)， Natural
OS sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(45)， Technology. Engineering(50)， Architecture. Building(52)，
Mechanical engineering(53)， Chemical technology(57)， Commerce(67)， Sports and physical training(78)，German(84)， French literature(95)DM Literature(9)， General collected essays(04)， Domestic arts and sciences(59)， Japanese literature(91)OS General works(00)， Construction. Civil engineering(51)， Sports and physical training(78)General collected essays(04)， General collections(08)， Oriental thought(12)， Ethics. Morals(15)， Social sciences(30)，DM
Sculpture. Plastic arts(71)， Engraving(73) ， Chinese literature(92)General works(0)， Social sciences(3)， Natural sciences(4)， Industry(6)， Language(8)， General works(00)， Libraries.
Library and information sciences(01)， Books. Bibliography(02)， General collections(08)， Philosophy(10)， Special
treatises on philosophy(11)， Western philosophy(13)， Christianity(19)， General history(20)， General history of
OS Japan(21)， General history of Europe(23)， Political science(31)， Law(32)， Economics(33)， Public finance(34)，
Statistics(35)， Education(37)， Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(45)， Technology.
Engineering(50)， Architecture. Building(52)， Mechanical engineering(53)， Electrical engineering(54)， Chemical
technology(57)， Commerce(67)， Sports and physical training(78)， Japanese(81)， German(84)， French literature(95)，
Russian literature(98)DM Literature(9)， Domestic arts and sciences(59)， Japanese literature(91)OS
DM General history(20)， Italian(87)Libraries. Library and information sciences(01)， Oriental thought(12)， Religion(16)， Education(37)， Customs,
OS folklore and ethnology(38)， Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Zoology(48)， Technology. Engineering(50)，Commerce(67)， Literature(90)， Literatures of other languages(99)History(2)， General geography. Description and travel(29)， Social sciences(30)， Political science(31)， Statistics(35)，DM
Physics(42)， Construction. Civil engineering(51)， Forestry(65)Industry(6)， Language(8)， General collections(08)， Earth sciences(45)， Agriculture(61)， Animal husbandry(64) ，OS
Photography and photographs(74)， Japanese(81)， Italian literature(97)DM History(2)， Oriental thought(12)， Spanish literature(96)， Russian literature(98)Social sciences(3)， General works(00)， Books. Bibliography(02)， Law(32)， Physics(42)， Construction. Civil
engineering(51)， Mechanical engineering(53)， Sports and physical training(78)DM Literature(9)， General collected essays(04)， Domestic arts and sciences(59)， Music(76)， Japanese literature(91)History(2)， Technology(5)， General history(20)， General geography. Description and travel(29)， Sports and physicalTown and village OS
training(78)libraries
DM Ethics. Morals(15)， Statistics(35)， Sculpture. Plastic arts(71)General works(0)， History(2)， Social sciences(3)， Natural sciences(4)， Industry(6)， Language(8)， General
works(00)， Books. Bibliography(02)， Philosophy(10) ， Western philosophy(13)， Christianity(19)， General
history(20)， General history of Japan(21)， Political science(31)， Law(32)， Economics(33)， Public finance(34)，
OS Education(37)， Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(45)， Biology(46)， Technology.
PrivateEngineering(50)， Construction. Civil engineering(51)， Architecture. Building(52)， Mechanical engineering(53)，enterprises
Chemical technology(57) ， Animal husbandry(64) ， Commerce(67)， Theater(77)， Sports and physical training(78)，Japanese(81)， German(84)， French literature(95)， Spanish literature(96)General city
libraries

NPOs

Publiccorporations

Other
organizations

T Company

V Company

H FoundationOS

DM Literature(9)， General collected essays(04)， Domestic arts and sciences(59)， Painting. Pictorial arts(72)， Japanese
literature(91)OS
General societies(06)， General collections(08)， Oriental thought(12)， Western philosophy(13) ， Technology.
DM
Engineering(50)， Communication services(69)， Chinese(82)， Chinese literature(92)OSTechnology(5)， General societies(06)， Philosophy(10) ， General history of Japan(21)， General biography(28)，DM Astronomy. Space sciences(44)， Biology(46)， Manufactures(58)， Forestry(65)， Engraving(73) ， Theater(77)，Japanese(81)， Chinese(82)， Chinese literature(92)OS
General encyclopedias(03)， General societies(06)， Journalism. Newspapers(07)， General collections(08)， Oriental
thought(12)， General history of Europe(23)， General geography. Description and travel(29)， Statistics(35)，DM Biology(46)， Maritime engineering(55)， Metal and mining engineering(56)， Forestry(65)， Communication
services(69)， Engraving(73)， Industrial arts(75)， Chinese(82)， German(84)， Italian(87)， French literature(95)，
Spanish literature(96)General works(0)， History(2)， Social sciences(3)， Industry(6)， General works(00)， Books. Bibliography(02)，Law(32)， Economics(33)， Customs, folklore and ethnology(38)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(45)， Technology.
OS
Engineering(50)， Construction. Civil engineering(51)， Mechanical engineering(53)， The arts. Fine arts(70)， Sports
and physical training(78)， French literature(95)， Spanish literature(96)DM Literature(9)， Japanese literature(91)Social sciences(3)， General geography. Description and travel(29)， Political science(31)， Economics(33)， EarthOS
sciences(45)， Chemical technology(57)， Sports and physical training(78)The arts(7)， General encyclopedias(03)， General societies(06)， General collections(08)， Religion(16)， Maritime
DM engineering(55)， Forestry(65)， Painting. Pictorial arts(72)， Chinese(82)， English(83)， Italian(87)， Japanese
literature(91)Industry(6)， Oriental thought(12)， Education(37)， Natural sciences(40)， Agriculture(61)， Sports and physicalOS
training(78)， German(84)Literature(9)， General societies(06)， General collections(08)， Philosophy(10)， Statistics(35)， Astronomy. SpaceDM sciences(44)， Construction. Civil engineering(51)， Manufactures(58)， Fishing industry. Fisheries(66)， Chinese(82)，Japanese literature(91)， Spanish literature(96)， Italian literature(97)C-CodeTables 5 and 6 show the results on C-Code. Results concerning the first and second digit(target readers and formats) are shown in Table 5 and results concerning the third and fourth
digit (subjects) are shown in Table 6 (Incidentally, bunko and shinsho under formats represent
the size of books. Both represent pocket-sized paperbacks, while bunko is smaller than sinsho(approximately 105×148mm and 103×182mm, respectively). Tankobon means monographand is generally hardcover).
Interestingly, the results suggest that outsourcing libraries were more prudent in holding
comics depending on library type. Table 5 shows that some types of outsourcing libraries had
significantly lower rates concerning comics than direct management libraries (i.e., prefectural,
Tokyo special word, and town and village libraries, libraries managed by private enterprises,
and those managed by T company).
In addition, for overall results of C-Code, outsourcing libraries had significantly higher
rates for “Dictionaries” formats, “General encyclopedias,” and “Economics. Public finance.
Table 5. C-Code (Target readers and Formats)(All libraries)
Main libraries

AnnexesTarget readers
OS Books on culture(1)， Practical books(2)，Professional and technical books(3)DM
OS Practical books(2)DM Books for general readers(0)Books on culture(1)， Practical books(2)，OS
Professional and technical books(3)DMPrefectural libraries

Formats
Tankobon(0)， Dictionaries(5)， Magnetic
media(8)
Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)Tankobon(0)Bunko(1)Sinsho(2)， Dictionaries(5)， Illustrated
reference books(6)， Magnetic media(8)Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)， Picture
books(7)OSDM
OS Books for children(8)Comics(9)Picture books(7)Ordinance-designated city
Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)， Magnetic
libraries
DM Professional and technical books(3)media(8)Textbooks for elementary or junior high school Tankobon(0)， Dictionaries(5)， Illustrated
OS
students(6)reference books(6)， Magnetic media(8)Tokyo special ward libraries
DM Magazines(9)Bunko(1) ， Comics(9)OS Practical books(2)， Professional and technicalbooks(3)
DM Books for general readers(0)Practical books(2)， Professional and technicalOS
Town and village libraries
books(3)DM
General city libraries

Private enterprises
NPOs
Public corporations

Other organizations

T Company

V Company

H Foundation

Books on culture(1)， Practical books(2)，Professional and technical books(3)DM Magazines(9)OS Practical books(2)DM Books on culture(1)OS
DM Books for women(5)OS
Textbooks for elementary or junior high school
DM students(6)， Textbooks for high school
students(7)OS Books on culture(1)， Practical books(2)Textbooks for high school students(7)，DM
Magazines(9)OSTankobon(0)， Dictionaries(5)， Illustrated
reference books(6)Bunko(1)Tankobon(0)Bunko(1) ， Comics(9)Dictionaries(5)， Illustrated reference
books(6)， Magnetic media(8)Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)， Comics(9)Tankobon(0)Bunko(1)Dictionaries(5)Bunko(1) ， Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)Bunko(1) ， Magnetic media(8)Tankobon(0)， Dictionaries(5)Comics(9)OS Books for general readers(0)， Books on
culture(1)Bunko(1) ， Sinsho(2)DM Books for children(8)OSDM

Tankobon(0)， Picture books(7)， Comics(9)Dictionaries(5)Bunko(1) ， Mooks. Diaries. Notebooks(4)Statistics” subjects. These results suggest that outsourcing libraries tend to hold reference
books more than direct management libraries. Similar tendencies were observed in other typesof libraries such as annex libraries and libraries managed by private enterprises.
Table 6. C-Code (Subjects)
General encyclopedias(1)， Religion(14)， General history of Japan(21)， General history of foreigncountries(22)， Political science(31)， Law(32)， Economics. Public finance. Statistics(33)， Management(34)，
OS Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(44)， Medical sciences(47)， Technology.
(All libraries)
Engineering(50)， Communication engineering(55)， The arts(70)， Photography. Industrial arts(72)， Music(73)，Sports and physical training(75)， English(82)， German(84)， Each language(87)， Other foreign literatures(98)DM Other Engineering(58)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)OS Painting. Sculpture(71)， Sports and physical training(75)Main libraries
DM Information sciences(4)， Chemistry(43) ， Exploitation. Metallurgy(57)， Language(80)General works(0)， General encyclopedias(1)， Psychology(11)， Religion(14)， Christianity(16)， General
history(20)， General history of Japan(21)， General history of foreign countries(22)， Political science(31)，
Law(32)， Economics. Public finance. Statistics(33)， Management(34)， Society(36)， Natural sciences(40)，OS Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(44)， Medical sciences(47)， Technology. Engineering(50)， Architecture.
Annexes
Building(52)， Communication engineering(55)， The arts(70)， Photography. Industrial arts(72)， Music(73)，Sports and physical training(75)， Japanese(81)， English(82)， German(84)， Each language(87)， Other foreign
literatures(98)DM Other Engineering(58)， Household(77)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)Prefectural OS English(82)libraries
DM
General encyclopedias(1)， Ethics(12)， Religion(14)， Technology. Engineering(50)， Literature(90)， Other
Ordinance- OS
foreign literatures(98)designatedGeneral history(20)， Travel(26)， Physics(42)， Medical sciences(47)， Civil engineering(51)， Mechanicalcity libraries DM
engineering(53)， Fishing industry. Fisheries(62)， Life(78)， Each language(87)General encyclopedias(1)， Natural sciences(40)， Fishing industry. Fisheries(62)， The arts(70)， Painting.
Tokyo special OS
Sculpture(71)， Photography. Industrial arts(72)， Japanese(81)， Other foreign literatures(98)ward libraries
DM Comics. Graphic novels(79)General city
libraries
Town andvillagelibraries

Privateenterprises

NPOs

OS

Law(32)， Education(37)， Natural sciences(40)， Earth sciences(44)， Medical sciences(47)， Sports and physicaltraining(75)， Other foreign literatures(98)Ethics(12)， Travel(26)， Exploitation. Metallurgy(57)， Language(80)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance.
Novel(93)， Japanese literature: Essays. Prose. Other literatures(95)Economics. Public finance. Statistics(33)， Education(37)， Medical sciences(47)， Sports and physicalOS
training(75)DM Other Engineering(58)， Comics. Graphic novels(79)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)General encyclopedias(1)， Religion(14)， General history(20)， General history of Japan(21)， General history of
foreign countries(22)， Political science(31)， Law(32)， Economics. Public finance. Statistics(33)，Management(34)， Society(36)， Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(44)， MedicalOS
sciences(47)， Technology. Engineering(50)， Architecture. Building(52)， Communication engineering(55)， Thearts(70)， Photography. Industrial arts(72)， Music(73)， Sports and physical training(75)， Japanese(81)，English(82)， German(84)， Each language(87)， Other foreign literatures(98)General biography. Family history(23)， Other Engineering(58)， Agriculture. Forestry(61)， Household(77)，DM
Life(78)， Comics. Graphic novels(79)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)
OS
DM

DM

Christianity(16)， Electrical engineering(54)， Maritime engineering(56)， Exploitation. Metallurgy(57)，Commerce(63)， Language(80)， French(85)General encyclopedias(1)OS
Publiccorporations DM Philosophy(10)， General history(20) ， General history of Japan(21)， Civil engineering(51)， Industry(60)，Theater(74)， Accomplishments and amusements(76)， Language(80)， French(85)， Literature(90)OS
Other
General works(0)， Yearbooks. Magazines(2)， General geography(25)， Travel(26)， Civil engineering(51)，organizations DM Mechanical engineering(53)， Maritime engineering(56)， Exploitation. Metallurgy(57)， Language(80)，German(84)， French(85)， Other foreign literatures(98)Religion(14)， General history(20)， General history of foreign countries(22)， Political science(31)， Law(32)，
OS Society(36)， Natural sciences(40)， Mathematics(41)， Earth sciences(44)， Communication engineering(55)， The
T Companyarts(70)， Music(73)， Sports and physical training(75)， Other foreign literatures(98)Maritime engineering(56)， Life(78)， Comics. Graphic novels(79)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance.
DM
Novel(93)General history of foreign countries(22)， General geography(25)， Travel(26)， Economics. Public finance.
OS
Statistics(33)， Sports and physical training(75)， English(82)V Company
Maritime engineering(56)， Exploitation. Metallurgy(57)， Other Engineering(58)， Agriculture. Forestry(61)，DM
Comics. Graphic novels(79)， French(85)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)General encyclopedias(1)， Psychology(11)， Ethics(12)， Yearbooks. Magazines(2)， General biography. FamilyOShistory(23)， Technology. Engineering(50)， Transportation services. Communication services(65)， German(84)
H Foundation
Civil engineering(51)， Industry(60)， Fishing industry. Fisheries(62)， Painting. Sculpture(71)， Life(78)，DM
French(85)， Japanese literature: poetry(92)， Japanese literature: Fiction. Romance. Novel(93)HRs concerning the Weekly Guide
Tables 7 and 8 show the results on books being listed in the Weekly Guide and the evaluation
score in the Weekly Guide, respectively. These tables show the mean, median, maximum,
minimum, and SD of the HRs concerning the Weekly Guide. The symbol “n” represents thenumber of libraries. “(All libraries)” represents the results for all the sample libraries. The “*”
and “**” in the “Mean” columns represent significant differences at the 0.05 and 0.01 levels,
respectively, observed using Welch’s t test. The results for each type of library are shown in
the rows below “(All libraries),” only when a significant difference was observed. For
example, Table 7 shows that means for outsourcing and direct management libraries wereboth 96.6% and there was no significant difference between the two. The mean of outsourcing
libraries managed by private enterprises was 97.5% and it was significantly higher than thatof all direct management libraries (96.6%) at the 0.01 level.
We will first explain the results for books being listed the Weekly Guide. As previously
mentioned, the means of HRs of outsourcing and direct management libraries were the sameand significant differences were not observed. There were significant differences between
outsourcing and direct management libraries in some types of libraries, such as Tokyo special
ward libraries and those managed by private enterprises; however, all of their means of HRs
were very high (more than 96%). These results suggest that many libraries hold many books
listed in the Weekly Guide.
Next, we explain the results for evaluation in the Weekly Guide. We can see in Table 8 thatthe means of HRs of books that were given no star, one star, two stars, and three stars in the
Weekly Guide concerning outsourcing libraries (21.6%, 10.6%, 9.7%, and 9.4%, respectively)
were higher than those of direct management libraries (21.4%, 9.8%, 9.2%, and 9.0%,
respectively), and there were significant differences between those given one star and twostars. These results suggest that outsourcing libraries tend to hold books listed in the stock
Table 7. HRs for Books Being Listed in the Weekly Guide (%)
n(All libraries)
373
Main libraries
126
Tokyo special ward libraries 92
General city libraries
188
Private enterprises
289

Outsourcing libraries
Mean Median Maximum Minimum
96.6
96.9
100.0
4.9
96.7 *
96.8
100.0
92.6
97.0 **
96.9
99.2
94.3
96.9 *
96.9
100.0
87.5
96.9 **
96.9
100.0
87.5

V Company

97.5 **

17

97.5

99.2

96.2

SD
5.0
1.5
0.9
1.7
1.4

n
2,556
1,041
122
1,697
ー

Mean
96.6
96.4
96.4
96.6
ー

0.8

ー

ー

Direct management libraries
Median Maximum Minimum
97.0
100.0
0.0
96.8
100.0
72.9
96.4
100.0
90.8
97.0
100.0
0.0
ー
ー
ー
ー

ー

ー

Table 8. HRs concerning the Evaluation Score in the Weekly Guide (%)

SD
3.3
2.1
1.3
3.7
ー
ー

books section (which we mentioned in the Sample Books Section) and are paying attention to
TRC’s evaluation scores. Similar tendencies were observed in other types of libraries such as
libraries managed by private enterprises. In particular, libraries managed by T company tend
to conform to such tendencies.
HRs concerning assignment books
Table 9 shows the HRs concerning assignment books. The mean of the HRs of direct
management libraries (0.81%) was significantly higher than that of outsourcing libraries(0.58%). This result suggests that direct management libraries tend to hold more assignment
books than outsourcing libraries. Similar tendencies were observed in other types of libraries
such as annex libraries and libraries managed by private enterprises.
HRs concerning reviewed books
Due to the limitation of space, we omitted the table concerning reviewed books. The means of
HRs of outsourcing libraries and that of direct management libraries were almost the same
(5.4% and 5.5%, respectively) and there was no significant difference concerning these books.
HRs concerning out of print books
We also omitted table concerning books being in print. The means of HRs of outsourcing anddirect management libraries were almost the same (86.0% and 85.7%, respectively) and nostatistically significant difference was observed.
Average Price
Table 10 shows the HRs concerning price. The mean of the average price of outsourcing
libraries (1,504 Yen) was higher than that of direct management libraries (1,486 Yen),
however there was no significant difference.
BRs (Rates of books being borrowed)
Table 11 shows the borrowing rates. The mean of the borrowing rates of outsourcing libraries(19.3%) was significantly higher than that of direct management libraries (16.4%). This result
suggests that books in the outsourcing libraries tend to be borrowed more than direct
management libraries. Similar tendencies were observed in other types of libraries such asannex libraries and libraries managed by private enterprises.

Table 9. HRs for Assignment Books (%)
n

Outsourcing libraries
Median Maximum
0.44
6.06

Minimum
0.00

SD
0.65

n
2,556

Direct management libraries
Mean
Median Maximum Minimum
0.81 **
0.48
50.00
0.00

SD
1.54

(All libraries)

373

Mean
0.58

Annexes

247

0.63

0.48

6.06

0.00

0.74

1,442

0.93 **

0.55

20.00

0.00

1.38

General city libraries

188

0.63

0.49

5.88

0.00

0.72

1,697

0.80 **

0.47

20.00

0.00

1.23

Private enterprises

289

0.55

0.43

5.88

0.00

0.59

ー

ー **

ー

ー

ー

ー

Public corporations

45

0.59

0.50

2.78

0.00

0.59

ー

ー *

ー

ー

ー

ー

T Company

101

0.53

0.41

3.45

0.00

0.44

ー

ー **

ー

ー

ー

ー

V Company

17

0.48

0.41

1.58

0.00

0.33

ー

ー **

ー

ー

ー

ー

H Foundation

11

0.53

0.58

1.20

0.00

0.31

ー

ー *

ー

ー

ー

ー

CONCLUSIONS
While many argue whether public libraries should introduce the outsourcing system, few
studies have examined or compared the services actually provided by outsourcing and direct
management libraries. Within this context, we investigated the difference between
outsourcing and direct management libraries, with a focus on book collections. We comparedoutsourcing and direct management libraries with regard to: (a) the characteristics of books,
and (b) the number of books being borrowed. The results showed that direct management
libraries tend to hold more novels than outsourcing libraries, whereas outsourcing libraries
tend to hold more reference books than direct management libraries. It was also found that therates of books being borrowed in outsourcing libraries were higher than that of direct
management libraries.
In the future, we aim to examine books that have other characteristics and examine thecause of the differences between outsourcing and direct management libraries. Furthermore,
we hope to focus not only on collections, but also on other library services, and to clarify the
impact of the switch to outsourcing on Japanese libraries.
REFERENCES
Ohba, H., Agata, T., Ikeuchi, A., and Otani, Y. (2016). The Impartiality of Public Library
Collection in Japan: A Sample Selection of Books about the Right to Collective
Defense. Journal of Japan Society of Library and Information Science, 62(2), 83-100(text in Japanese).
Ikezawa, N. (2016). Analysis of selection list of Ebina City Library. Library for All, (466),
26-36 (text in Japanese).
Japan Library Association. (2015a). Report on Public Libraries Managed by the DesignatedAdministrator System in 2015. Retrieved from http://www.jla.or.jp/library/tabid/311/
Default.aspx (text in Japanese).
Japan Library Association. (2015b). Statistics on Libraries in Japan 2014, Tokyo: Japan
Library Association (text in Japanese).
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. (2012). Survey on the Introduction of the
Designated Administrator System. Retrieved from http://www.soumu.go.jp/iken/
siteikanrisya_dounyujyoukyou_kohyou_h240401.html (text in Japanese).
Table 10. Average Price (Yen)(All libraries)
Annexes
General city libraries
Town and village libraries
T Company

n
373
247
188
41
101

Mean
1,504
1,458 **
1,482 *
1,499 *
1,537 **V Company

17

1,419

Outsourcing libraries
Median Maximum Minimum
1,474
2,973
600
1,442
2,392
600
1,470
2,059
1,075
1,499
1,700
1,269
1,505
1,930
1,199
1,437

1,605

1,233

SD
219
176
162
103
151

n
2,556
1,442
1,697
390
ー

101

ー

Direct management libraries
Median Maximum Minimum
1,445
5,064
813
1,380
5,064
865
1,439
2,709
813
1,456
2,500
1,002
ー
ー
ー

Mean
1,486
1,399
1,454
1,461
ー
ー *

ー

ー

SD
283
229
196
151
ー

ー

ー

Direct management libraries
Median Maximum Minimum
15.0
100.0
0.0
15.4
100.0
0.0
10.0
99.3
0.0

SD
10.4
11.5
7.7

Table 11. BRs (Rates of Books Being Borrowed) (%)(All libraries)
Annexes
Town and village libraries

n
373
247
41

Outsourcing libraries
Mean
Median Maximum Minimum
19.3 **
18.9
90.0
0.0
20.6 **
20.6
90.0
0.0
13.4 *
12.4
28.5
1.7

SD
9.9
10.6
7.5

n
2,556
1,442
390

Mean
16.4
17.1
10.9

Private enterprises
T Company
V Company
H Foundation

289
101
17
11

19.5 **
18.6 *
21.5 **
36.4 **

8.8
8.5
5.1
19.1

ー
ー
ー
ー

ー
ー
ー
ー

19.5
18.7
21.2
33.2

53.1
44.8
29.9
90.0

0.0
0.0
11.5
14.6

ー
ー
ー
ー

ー
ー
ー
ー

ー
ー
ー
ー

ー
ー
ー
ー