Tottori Prefectural Library, Prefectural library in Tottori, Japan.
Tottori Prefectural Library is a prefectural library in Tottori, Japan, featuring multiple floors with reading spaces, study areas, and extensive book collections in Japanese and English. The building provides digital catalogs, online databases, and multimedia resources available to all prefecture residents.
The library's predecessor, the Kyūshō Bunko, was set up in 1890 by Endō Tadashi at Inaba Higher Elementary School; in 1918 he donated it to Tottori City, creating the city library. The prefectural library opened on 21 July 1931 in a reinforced-concrete building designed by Oshio Akira, the first such structure in Tottori. It moved to its current building, designed by Satō Takeo's office, in 1990.
The library's nickname, "Tottori method," comes from its practice since 1990 of buying materials through local bookshops, at most two copies even of bestsellers. The phrase "under the library's roof" was coined by Ikeda Shisei and is widely used in the prefecture. The Tottori Reading Club, founded in 1932, held monthly meetings in the children's room.
The library sits at 101 Shōtoku-chō in Tottori, in the building it has occupied since 1990, next to the prefectural archives. Materials can be requested by courier from home, a service trialled in 1990 and made permanent in April 1991. Catalogue searches went online with the website and OPAC in July 2000, and a cross-search system covering prefectural libraries followed that October.
The library received the Library of the Year award in 2006 for innovative approaches to working with the community. This recognition reflects how the institution has continuously adapted its offerings to serve visitors and residents.
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