Ministry to Support Collaboration Between Libraries and Bookstores; Hopes to Promote Reading in Communities Nationwide

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:04 JST, September 7, 2024

As bookstores are decreasing in every part of Japan, the education ministry has decided to support cooperative efforts between libraries and bookstores to promote reading.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has included ￥41 million in its budget request for the next fiscal year to build models, which it hopes to spread across the country to boost the number of readers.

The number of bookstores is declining nationwide: there were 10,918 bookstores as of March this year, 4,684 fewer than 10 years ago, according to the Japan Publishing Organization for Information Infrastructure Development.

In an effort to strengthen cooperation between libraries and bookstores and vitalize local communities, the ministry will publicly call for applications from municipalities and other entities to conduct pilot projects in the next fiscal year and select six to receive financial support.

Examples of such projects are expected to include the introduction of a system that allows users to pick up library books at bookstores and order books from bookstores at libraries.

The ministry will also study examples of cooperation between libraries and bookstores and analyze challenges such collaboration may face. It plans to explore solutions to the problem of bookstores being disadvantaged by libraries lending large numbers of popular books.