A Study of Characteristics and Future Use of the Books and Materials in the Special and Deposit Library of Co-operatives

Abstract

The Special and Deposit Library of Co-operatives (SDLC) is a deposit library that was established in Tokyo funded by agricultural cooperatives, National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative, Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union, etc. as part of a project commemorating the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of Agricultural Co-operatives Act. SDLC had been introduced as a pioneer of deposit libraries in Japan and operated as the special library regarding the cooperatives. However, the deteriorating economic environment from the 1990s also affected the operation of SDLC and it was closed in July 2019. With the closing of SDLC, its collection of materials was transferred to many other libraries. In this study, we organized the characteristics of the books and materials that had been kept in SDLC. Consequently, we revealed that SDLC had stored many valuable books and materials relating to agriculture or agricultural cooperatives in the 20th century. We also pointed out that it is necessary to build a system to ensure that valuable books and materials will be continuously utilized instead of being discarded even if the special library is closed.