Toward Strengthening and Innovation ofNational University Library Functions- JANUL Vision 2025 June 25, 2021.
The 68th General Meeting of JANUL
Society has rapidly transformed, and the environment surrounding
education and research at universities has drastically changed. Under
these circumstances, national university libraries strongly need to digitize
scholarly information, establish a ubiquitous and sustainable information
provision system, and promote the digital transformation of education andresearch. With the diversification of the functions of national universities
and the rapid progress of globalization, member libraries must share newgoals and steadily strengthen the functions of national university libraries
based on national policies and other guidelines.
In addition, along with the international trends and connections withsociety, a significant endeavor is to work toward the SDGs (SustainableDevelopment Goals), which are the universal goals set by the United
Nations in 2015.
Against this background, JANUL has established the principles of nationaluniversity libraries, aiming for the consolidation and innovation of theirfunctions.
Basic Principle of National University Libraries.
As a knowledge base in society, national university libraries enable usersto access knowledge, information, and data without barriers, whether
digital or non-digital, and provide users with an environment for utilizingthem. Through these activities, the libraries support the education andresearch activities of national universities that promote the quality
assurance of education and the strengthening of research and innovation
capabilities, and contribute to the realization of the sharing and creationof new knowledge in society.
To realize this basic principle, JANUL has established the following threepriority areas with goals and action plans. JANUL and the member libraries
promote efforts to achieve the goals in each priority area while reviewing
our roles and activities. Furthermore, towards 2025 as one milestone, weconfirm the level of achievement in every step and revise this vision asnecessary. In addition, we strive to positively take any actions towards
realizing our basic principle, even when they do not fall under any priorityareas.
Priority Area 1. Knowledge Sharing: Sharing of <knowledge andinformation> beyond the collection.
Priority Area 2. Knowledge Creation: Providing a <place> to spin
new knowledge.
Priority Area 3. Knowledge Mediation: Fostering of <humanresources> to promote knowledge exchange.
Roles of JANUL and member libraries.
JANUL promotes the sharing of various information, such as excellent
practical examples and experimental trials, domestically and overseas toaccelerate activation of the operations of its member libraries and improvetheir functions.
In addition, we have set up committees to achieve the goals. The
committees conduct research and training projects in collaboration with
the Japanese Coordinating Committee for University Libraries (JULIB),
the Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources(JUSTICE), the Japan Consortium for Open Access Repository (JPCOAR),
the Future Scholarly Information Systems Committee, and otherorganizations.
Furthermore, we promote advocacy activities in collaboration with theJapan Association of National Universities, the Science Council of Japan,
and other organizations.
While participating in the above activities, member libraries select goals
and action plans that match the missions and medium-term goals of theirrespective universities. They aim to realize the basic principle of national
university libraries by attempting to achieve the goals with the aid ofrelated departments on campus and libraries domestically and overseas,
including other national university libraries.
Priority Area 1. Knowledge Sharing: Sharing of <knowledge and information>
beyond the collection.
From the perspective of sharing knowledge, national university libraries
need to provide the knowledge and information necessary for education
and research at universities appropriately and comprehensively in linewith the cycle of education and research activities. The shape ofknowledge has expanded from the scope of the conventional collections
constructed from paper books and journals. Now it includes e-Journals ande-Books. Educational and research results such as teaching materials,research articles, and research data are also included. We also care about
useful content that anyone can freely access on the Internet, which in thefuture should be enhanced with the progress of open science. To shareknowledge of any category, we consider and realize measures such as
sophistication of scholarly information systems and improvement of theinformation discovery environment.

Goal 1-1) Dissemination, openness, and preservation of educationaland research results.
National university libraries aim to preserve the educational andresearch results produced on campus long-term in addition topromoting electronic distribution and openness.
Action Plan 1-1-1) We establish and disseminate policies related toopen access and open science.
Action Plan 1-1-2) We enhance the contents of institutional
repositories and provide supports following the education andresearch cycle: collaborating with related departments on campus andvarious organizations, and working to conserve and publish teachingmaterials, research data, etc.
Action Plan 1-1-3) We improve the interoperability of contents
deposited to institutional repositories.
Goal 1-2) Maintenance of library materials and preservation for use.
National university libraries strive to maintain the collection properly
composed of paper books, journals, and electronic resources such as
e-Journals and e-Books. Also, we prepare the environment for use andenable long-term use by digitizing the materials. By doing so, we
support current and future education and research.
Action Plan 1-2-1) We strive for appropriate maintenance after
understanding the usage status of books and journals, e-Journals anddatabases, e-Books and online teaching materials, and materials that
contribute to barrier-free reading.
Action Plan 1-2-2) We promote the digitization of valuable materials
and materials that deteriorate upon exposure to acid. In addition, weproceed with the construction of digital archives.
Action Plan 1-2-3) We consider building systems for sharing andpreserving materials in cooperation with other libraries.
Goal 1-3) Improving the discoverability of knowledge and information.
National university libraries improve the scholarly information system
in collaboration with other institutions, such as the union catalog
database, so that we realize an environment where users can discover
the necessary information from knowledge as a whole, moreefficiently, comprehensively, stably, and continuously.
Action Plan 1-3-1) We strive to create and accumulate various typesof metadata, keeping in mind data linkage with domestic and overseas
institutions such as the National Diet Library.
Action Plan 1-3-2) We work to strengthen the functions of the librarymanagement system so that we can effectively provide appropriatematerials to users.
Action Plan 1-3-3) With the cooperation of related organizations
inside and outside the university, we introduce remote services,develop an online system of various procedures, and maintain abusiness processing system for remote working, so that the scholarly
information system can function stably and continuously, even under
the circumstances of disasters.
Priority Area 2. Knowledge Creation: Providing a <place> to spin new knowledge.
Formerly, national university libraries have been places forcommunication that create interactions between people and knowledge
and information, or between people. The libraries have been spaces thatcreate knowledge. From now on, we expand the place outside the walls of
the old image as buildings and utilize not only the physical area but also
the information space existing on the network as a place to create newknowledge. Through these efforts, we improve the quality ofstudy/learning and education, support research and exchange activities,and promote cooperation between the university, and society and thecommunity.
Goal 2-1) Expansion, maintenance, and provision of places to createknowledge.
National university libraries promote knowledge creation throughstudy/learning, education, research, and exchange by developing andproviding places where communication creates interactions between
people and knowledge and information, or between people.
Action Plan 2-1-1) We develop and provide a place for study/learningthat utilizes the information and human resources of the library.
Action Plan 2-1-2) We develop and provide a place for education thatutilizes the information and human resources of the library.
Action Plan 2-1-3) We develop and provide a place for research that

utilizes the information and human resources of the library.
Action Plan 2-1-4) We develop and provide a place for exchanges thatutilize the information and human resources of the library.
Goal 2-2) Providing a space for creating knowledge that is open tosociety and the community.
National university libraries contribute to revitalizing society and thecommunity by developing and providing places where new knowledge
creation occurs and that are open to society and the community.
Action Plan 2-2-1) We develop and provide places for knowledge
creation that are open to society and the community, where materials
and people inside and outside the university interact.
Priority Area 3. Knowledge Mediation: Fostering of <human resources> to promoteknowledge exchange.
National university libraries promote the sharing and creation of diverse
knowledge by forming a group of human resources with various abilities
centered on library staff. In addition, the libraries establish training
systems to improve the abilities of library staff.
Goal 3-1) Collaboration with diverse human resources.
National university libraries provide functions by working with people
with various abilities, including students and faculty members:"curation" to organize scholarly information and create new value, and"facilitation" to promote interaction between people and knowledge
and information, or among people. Through these actions, we realize
sharing and creation of diverse knowledge.
Action Plan 3-1-1) We contribute to the enhancement ofstudy/learning activities, such as providing peer support at the libraryin collaboration with students.
Action Plan 3-1-2) We contribute to the educational activities
promoted by the university, such as providing information literacy
education in collaboration with people of different occupations.
Action plan 3-1-3) We contribute to the research activities promotedby the university, such as collaboration in supporting the execution ofresearch data management plans with people of different occupations.

Goal 3-2) Improving the capacity of national university library staff.
National university libraries encourage their staff to acquire andpractice new knowledge, such as correspondence to digitizedmaterials, in addition to the specialized knowledge about scholarlymaterials cultivated so far, metadata operation ability, and learning
support experience. By doing so, we realize the functions expected of
us in the midst of changes in the environment surrounding education,research, and scholarly communication at the universities.
Action Plan 3-2-1) We clarify the image of human resources requiredof library staff and formulate a recruitment and training policy.
Action plan 3-2-2) Based on the medium- to long-term staff
development policy, we have staff acquire standard abilities andspecialized abilities according to the characteristics of each library.