keio

Mission / Vision / Mid-Range Plan

Mission of the Media Centers

The Media Centers will uphold the following missions to contribute to society and academia both within and without Japan based on the founding spirit of Yukichi Fukuzawa, who established Keio University.

  1. Support the learning, education, research, and medical activities of Keio University through the collection, organization, preservation, and provision of academic information.
  2. Support the dissemination of the outcomes of academic activities at Keio University.
  3. Impart academic information to future generations as a bearer of academia and culture.

Visions for the Media Centers

  1. Provide an environment where valuable materials from around the world are easily accessible.
  2. Provide basic infrastructure adaptable to changes in learning and research activities.
  3. Support the autonomous and independent learning of students.
  4. Support rapidly diversifying research activities.

2016-2020 Mid-Range Plan for Media Centers

The Media Centers aim to realize the visions stated here through the actualization and execution of business plans in accordance with the principles in the following three areas, while being constantly aware of the need to secure appropriate storage space, facilities for use, and financial resources. A crucial issue for further consolidating the implementation of individual plans is the selection of a suitable library information system. At the same time, to maximize the effectiveness of measures, we must focus efforts on maintaining an efficient operating system that accounts for continuous HR development, appropriate personnel distribution, lean organizational structuring, and business collaborations within and without the university. Training our sights on the international expansion of Keio University, we strive to be a library befitting a world-leading center of education.

Area 1 Collections

  1. Maintenance of a good grasp of the changes and trends in distribution and use of information in academia, collection of materials from appropriate media, and evaluation and optimal arrangement of the existing collection and catalog.
  2. Careful acquisition of licenses for digital resources, while obtaining consensus within the university to maintain and develop an environment that supports university research and medical activities.
  3. Coordination with bodies inside and outside the university regarding cooperative collection and preservation of materials.
  4. Development, enhancement, and the making public of Keio's unique library collection.
  5. Expansion of Keio's academic resource repository and strengthening of its capacity to transmit information.

Area 2 Education Support

  • Collection and storage of materials that support education encouraging students to think and develop the ability to solve issues, with provision of an optimal user environment to that end.
  • Provision of better staff support so that students can effectively search for materials from a vast body of information and acquire the ability to use that information appropriately.
  • Provision of services that meet the diverse needs of learners, including international students, lifelong learners, and students with disabilities, as well as improvement of the collection, facilities and staff support to respond to changes in the content and approaches to education.
  • Improvement of the library environment so that it is safe and secure and supports diverse learning styles.

Area 3 Research Support

  • Collection and preservation of materials necessary for achieving excellence in research and medical activities and provision of optimal user environments.
  • Enhancement of cooperation within and outside the university in order to make research results more accessible and facilitate their dissemination.
  • Staying abreast of global research trends and the research status of Keio University, and provision of information to relevant departments, as well as investigation of the latest trends in technology which can be effectively utilized in research and provision of those technologies as library services.

2016-2020 Mid-Range Plan for Media Centers : Final Assessment

This report is an overall discussion of the Media Centers (Libraries) at Keio University and, with a few exceptions, does not deal with initiatives at individual campus Media Centers. It also outlines ongoing challenges identified in the course of inspections and assessments for this report.

Overview

While there were major changes to the environment in which university libraries found themselves during the five-year period from 2016 to 2020, due to factors such as those indicated below, the Mid-Range Plan for Media Centers, as a whole, is assessed as having been achieved, notwithstanding minor unavoidable changes.

External factors
・Transformations to devices used and modes of communication due to evolving mobile technologies
・Initiatives for university reform aimed at improving the quality of university education, led by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
・Transition to Open Access (OA) to distribute academic information, as well as a shift to Open Science
・Movement towards digital transformation (DX) of operations using cloud and AI technologies
・Growing momentum of SDGs
・Spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease)

Factors at Keio University
・A surge in the number of international students accompanying increased globalization, with the establishment of programs (GIGA Program, PEARL) to allow degree acquisition entirely in English
・Promotion of initiatives concerned with barrier-free accessibility, diversity and social inclusion, as well as SDGs through the establishment of the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
・Improvement to infrastructure facilitating telecommuting (work from home or other remote locations)
・Enhancement of cybersecurity measures

The most significant achievement during the five-year period of the Mid-Range Plan was the transition in September 2019 to a new library system jointly operated with Waseda University. We achieved this critical mission, implicit in the shift to libraries working with electronic resources, of transfer to a system capable of management and delivery of resources in both hard copy and electronic media, facilitating centralized retrieval of academic information. A public symposium was held with Waseda University Library in February 2020 to share information about this project among library officials. We have simultaneously been able to reduce costs by electing to use cloud-based systems.

The following are outcomes of maintaining subscription packages to electronic journals. While budget difficulties continue with sustained increases to subscription fees, we are striving to secure funds to maintain the content essential for research and education while building consensus at Keio, with careful attention to usage statistics. At the same time, we are investigating the potential of changeover to subscription agreements that promote OA.

In 2020, we were forced to suspend many services, including those involving the handling of books and magazines, as well as access to and browsing at the Media Centers, because of restrictions on social activities impacting libraries and with staff working remotely due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, the remote access infrastructure which we had previously consolidated and made available allowed the seamless delivery of electronic resources, and we implemented new services such as document mailing. While the COVID-19 situation remains uncertain, we are continuing to focus on the safety of library users and our staff.

Below we report by area.

Area 1: Collections

Area 1 Main achievements

  1. Maintenance of a good grasp of the changes and trends in distribution and use of information in academia, collection of materials from appropriate media, and evaluation and optimal arrangement of the existing collection and catalog.
     Our aim is to select resources, create stacks, and shelve books in media aligned with the search preferences of users at each Media Center.
     We accelerated our purchase of e-books, prompted by the 2020 pandemic. Meanwhile, the purchase of hard copy resources has not decreased significantly, and the issue of line-narrowing of stacks including repository stock persists, while we continue to evaluate and consolidate our holdings, including selecting resources for removal in consultation with faculty members.

  2. Careful acquisition of licenses for digital resources, while obtaining consensus within the university to maintain and develop an environment that supports university research and medical activities.
     Recognizing that the dramatically rising cost of electronic journals is a continuing problem, a new apparatus was established for executive and relevant administrative departments at Keio to convene at regular intervals and consider how to maintain subscriptions and secure budgets for electronic journals of mainstay publishers. With a shared awareness in particular that sharing subscription payment burdens among multiple departments is problematic, these were centralized into Media Center budgets. This facilitated the grasp of outlays and simplified payment tasks. In addition, we meet purchase costs by ongoing adjustment of burdens for overall expenditure within the Media Centers through negotiations with JUSTICE (Japan Alliance of University Library Consortia for E-Resources) and publishers with which it has tie-ups and continuous re-assessment of subscription content with reference to usage statistics. We have initiated a subsidy system for ILL expenses to minimize financial burdens on users when uncoupling electronic journal package deals.

  3. Coordination with bodies inside and outside the university regarding cooperative collection and preservation of materials.
     With the beginning of operations at Building 2 of the Yamanaka Book Depository in 2016, we now have repository space for approximately 1.4 million volumes when combined with Building 1. We continue to remove duplicate materials, with Building 1 as a repository for back issues of natural science journals and Building 2 for the archiving of other resources.
     At the same time, for tie-ups with institutions outside Keio University, the start of a system jointly administered with Waseda University Library in September of 2019 has integrated the bibliographic data from both universities, and arrangements for a system base compatible with Shared Print have just been completed.

  4. Development, enhancement, and the making public of Keio's unique library collection.
     The Mita Media Center, which has collected numerous resources related to the Analects, recently acquired the Lunyu shu (Elucidation of the Analects), an extremely valuable resource, and exhibited this publicly at an exhibition of rare books in 2020. Over the past five years we have hosted 29 exhibitions, including collaborative online exhibitions with other Keio departments. In addition, we are concentrating on the digitization of resources while responding to loan requests for valuable cultural assets in our collection for exhibitions outside Keio. We have adopted IIIF to share digital images of the "Keio University Media Center Digital Collection" (2017) and our collection of old Japanese medical texts, the "Fujikawa Bunko Collection Digital Collaboration Project" (2018), and are actively expanding our NDL search and metadata linkage.
     In addition, we offer support for classes intending to enhance learning using rare books.

  5. Expansion of Keio's academic resource repository and strengthening of its capacity to transmit information.
     We manage the Keio Associated Repository of Academic Resources (KOARA) to disseminate and make publicly available academic outcomes and educational and research resources with a focus on academic journals and proceedings of Keio University. In addition, we are increasing our uploaded items while improving visibility, which includes data linkage with the Keio Researchers Information System (K-RIS), and contributing content for inclusion in the Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Area 1 Challenges

  1. Stacks issue
    While there is still leeway to proceed with the cooperative collection and preservation of resources, the Yamanaka Book Depository is approaching capacity; considered removal of resources and careful attention to the balance between electronic and paper media is imperative to optimize the organization of library holdings. Meanwhile, we must implement construction on Building 3 as a fundamental contingency for the next ten years. We will begin analyzing the current situation and future prospects toward a joint agreement on Shared Print and electronic resources between Waseda and Keio University.

  2. Maintaining electronic journal subscriptions and OA policy
    Continuous efforts to raise budgets in a deepened cooperation with JUSTICE and relevant Keio departments are imperative for the maintenance and enhancement of our research environment. We will collate information on OA initiatives for academic papers and enhance information sharing at Keio to prepare for increased changeover of contracts.

  3. Drafting of policy for materials selection including electronic resources
    It is important to build collections of books aligned with the academic fields and research trends at our campuses. Criteria for choosing electronic resources should ideally be incorporated into the selection policies of each Media Center, taking into consideration a balance with hard copy resources.

Area 2: Educational Support

Area 2 Main achievements

  1. Collection and storage of materials that support education encouraging students to think and develop the ability to solve issues, with provision of an optimal user environment to that end.
     Each Media Center has sections for foreign books, textbooks, reserved books, hardbacks/paperbacks, and light reading materials, and careful attention is given to the arrangement of materials to cater to student needs. For electronic resources, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been actively purchasing e-books from Japan and overseas using trial subscriptions to e-book packages (introduced in 2016). Essential resources are promptly made available to online classes, leveraging the existing infrastructure of the remote access service.
     Since September 2019, the Keio University System of Multimedia Online Services (KOSMOS) has incorporated a new "Discovery" system, which enables one-stop retrieval of academic information in addition to library catalogue and contracted content.

  2. Provision of better staff support so that students can effectively search for materials from a vast body of information and acquire the ability to use that information appropriately.
     We conduct seminars to help students acquire high-level information literacy and methodologies for information retrieval. We field requests from faculty members and are focusing on enhancing effectiveness by combining the knowledge of our librarians with input from database publishers. Further, we have well-established initiatives for students to consult with peers or graduate school students on their studies or on writing papers and reports, with the Media Centers as the venues.
     Such personal support services were also forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting a wholesale transition to live or on-demand seminars and the digitization of usage guides and orientations. Individual consultations via social media platforms and remote conferencing systems were also started on a trial basis. In AY 2020 we held a workshop for staff entitled, "Online classes--What can libraries do now?"

  3. Provision of services that meet the diverse needs of learners, including international students, lifelong learners, and students with disabilities, as well as improvement of the collection, facilities and staff support to respond to changes in the content and approaches to education.
     In accordance with Keio University's policy of further hosting international students and increasing the number of students acquiring degrees pursued exclusively in English, information was provided in Japanese and English, and foreign books and materials for Japanese language learning were consolidated, with English-language orientations also offered. In 2018 we held a workshop for staff, themed on the diversity of library users and entitled "Becoming Diversity-conscious." We are establishing a system to accommodate students accompanied by infants or young children and catering to individual cases to support persons with disabilities.

  4. Improvement of the library environment so that it is safe and secure and supports diverse learning styles
     We are improving our on-site facilities to create more comfortable learning spaces, including zones for quiet reading seats and multipurpose areas, replacing fixtures such as chairs and lighting, and providing free access to floor space and power supplies. We are endeavoring to create locations where visitors can feel safe and secure through measures such as installing security cameras, stepping up staff patrols, and implementing emergency drills. In 2017, we held a workshop for library staff entitled, "Designing library spaces which support learning and research."
     As part of our measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, we have reduced available reading seats, implemented time limits for visitors, and installed acrylic sheeting and instituted staff-monitored disinfection at needed locations. In addition, to allow users to take steps of their own, we have introduced measures in line with university and campus policies, such as displaying building congestion status and installing hand disinfectant stations.

Area 2 Challenges

  1. Building of library services required in the post-COVID-19 era
    We aim to support education in ways unbound by past convention by restructuring virtual operations and providing new services while keeping achievement of SDGs in sight.

  2. Development of safe and secure user environments
    We will continue to adapt to changes in learning styles in the post-COVID-19 era and maintain facilities allowing visitors to spend time in spaces which feel safe.

  3. Linkage of the Learning Management System (LMS) with the library system
    We will create a new format for class support by linking the library system with the newly introduced LMS.。

  4. Development of global personnel
    We will roll out training and OJT initiatives to hone the skills of library staff and enhance their English abilities to ensure that they can cater to our English language curricula.

Area 3: Research Support

Area 3 Main Achievements

  1. Collection and preservation of materials necessary for achieving excellence in research and medical activities and provision of optimal user environments.
     With the inclusion of a new "Discovery" system on the Keio University System of Multimedia Online Services (KOSMOS) in September 2019, one-stop searches of academic information are now possible with no distinction between bound and electronic media. With further use of Google Scholar and a user interface to allow access to complete texts of contracted content, we have realized access to academic information tailored to the preferences of researchers, including the provision of electronic journal lists. The remote access service using the Keio Single Sign-On System (keio.jp) supported research through the prompt delivery of electronic resources even during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we have purchased archive files of electronic journals expected to be of use.

  2. Enhancement of cooperation within and outside the university in order to make research results more accessible and facilitate their dissemination.
     While we have been providing information to researchers at Keio on Article Publication Cost (APC) discounts available for e-journal package contracts, in 2020 we introduced Read & Publish contract models for a number of publishers and publicized these at Keio in collaboration with the Office of Research Development and Sponsored Projects, bringing OA for academic papers through exemption from APCs a step closer to reality.

  3. Staying abreast of global research trends and the research status of Keio University, and provision of information to relevant departments, as well as investigation of the latest trends in technology which can be effectively utilized in research and provision of those technologies as library services.
     We are cooperating in performance reviews of researcher outcomes in response to requests from other Keio departments. We hold seminars for researchers to introduce OA search tools for academic papers and tools to organize references/literature. In addition, we share research-relevant information from the library community in Japan and overseas with research support divisions. In 2019, we held a training session for staff entitled, "Toward the Promotion of Open Access (OA)".

Area 3 Challenges

  1. An understanding of costs for the maintenance of electronic journal subscriptions and the promotion of OA
    In addition to self-starting initiatives to secure ever-rising e-journal subscription fees on Media Center budgets, it is essential that we share awareness of the problems and develop a system of cooperation. It is imperative that we understand the total amount of APCs that the university is paying and ensure the finances to achieve a balance between subscription and OA publishing costs.

  2. Commitment to creating a framework for Research Data Management (RDM) for Keio University
    Moves to institute a Keio University policies initiative for RDM are underway, and we must consider the Media Center's role in this.

  3. Fostering of research support personnel
    While there are limitations to the extent of research support in specialized subject areas which staff not versed in such areas can provide, we will nurture Media Center personnel to expand the scope of support available through enhancement of qualities, capacities and career paths.