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222 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 8, 2016

concerning the different periods of practical preservation. However ,it mainly focuses on the
policy guiding data creation,data preservation and data reuse,and other policies concerning data
privacy and data security have to be dealt with in future research.

The creation of new spaces: The new membership libraries in Japan
①a *
ZOU Yongli & TU Li’na
Represented by Roppongi library created by Mori Building Co., a new type of member-
ship libraries emerged in Japan in recent years and attracted much public attention. The purpose
of this paper is to make a comprehensive description and analysis of this phenomenon. The
article covers almost all the important aspects of the Japanese membership libraries, such as its
background, concept, development, management, collection, services, challenges and so on.
With the mission of building a library where person to person communication, innovation and
entrepreneurial activity are highly valued and promoted, the builders of the Japanese membership
library emphasize the importance of libraries as a dedicated co-working site or space. The
membership libraries are known for its long open hours, some even accessible 24 hours a day all
year round.
Methods used in this paper are mainly literature survey and interviews. Currently,
specialized studies on the membership libraries are still rare, but there are plenty of reports
from the mass media. According to the Japanese professors we interviewed, this is because the
so-called new membership libraries are not really new but something similar to the corporate
libraries or specialized libraries for business people. By contrast, the mass media and public
show a high degree of interest, and consider the membership library as a kind of high-quality
library.
The study found that the targeted customers of the membership libraries are quite specific:
the young Japanese white collar class. For example, among Roppongi Library’s three thousand
members, more than 70% are between the ages of 20-40. The main reasons are as follows: first of
all, the public library can not meet the needs of this group due to its limited opening time and the
noisy environment; second, after the collapse of Japan’s lifetime employment system, the number
of individual entrepreneurs has been increasing, and so has been the need for a low-cost integrated
entrepreneurial space; third, the membership library provides the ideal place for those who are
unwilling to go home after work. According to a survey, up to 80% of the Japanese working-class
do not eat dinner with their families nor go home before 21:00; fourth, the houses of the general
working families in Japan are not spacial enough for every member, especially for the father, to
have a quiet space for reading. All of those factors have contributed to the birth and development

* Correspondence should be addressed to ZOU Yongli,E-mail:isszyl@mail.sysu.edu.cn,ORCID:0000-0002-8073-9715