The closing of archives related to the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster and the acquisition of archival content by the National Diet Library Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (HINAGIKU)

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, any number of archives were established to preserve records of the disaster. Now, more than 10 years since the disaster struck, difficulties related to maintenance and operation have caused many of these archives to close. In order to ensure that this content remains available to the public, the National Diet Library has taken over materials from many closed archives, but in doing so has had to deal with a variety of issues, such as handling the rights associated with the content. This paper discusses the closure of these archives and the challenges associated with acquiring their content.