Professor Yuriko Nakamura has been the director of the Librarian Course at Rikkyo University since 2011.  She is interested in international history and the world’s trends in LIS education and school librarianship.  She received the Japanese Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research 2018-2021 and 2023-2026 for her research on education for school librarianship.  Based on the funded research, she hosted two international conferences on the topic and discussed the issue with international colleagues.  The topic she has been most interested in the last few years is improving education for school librarianship through collaboration between professors and lecturers.

Education for librarian-teachers and reading promotion in Japan

Yuriko Nakamura will be speaking first about her own experience teaching reading-related courses in the librarianship programme at Rikkyo University and secondly, how we are promoting reading in schools and universities in Japan.  Over a hundred universities in Japan offer librarianship programmes, including Rikkyo University, a private Anglican university in Tokyo. Thousands of students receive Japanese national certificates for public librarians and librarian-teachers from the programmes, but many would not work in libraries and schools.  Professors and lecturers of those programmes are educating college students not only to become librarians and teachers but also to be good citizens, familiar with libraries, education, arts, and children’s literature. As educators, we struggle to focus on professional education in one sense, but we are placed in a position where we would be able to do a lot for college students and influence the future of reading in Japanese society.