University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

From Reading Guidance to Thought Control: Wartime Japanese Libraries

Domier, Sharon

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/3703

Description

Title
From Reading Guidance to Thought Control: Wartime Japanese Libraries
Author(s)
Domier, Sharon
Issue Date
2007
Keyword(s)
  • Libraries and society
  • Libraries in Japan
  • Public libraries
  • Propaganda
Abstract
Japanese public libraries failed to make a significant impact with either the state or the people for close to a half century after their introduction in the 1860s. The state was under too much pressure to modernize and militarize to see any value in funding a recreational facility that served personal needs, and librarians did little to market themselves to the people to increase their support base. It was not until the state began to see a role for librarians to provide ideological thought guidance through reading material that libraries began to receive more attention and support. But the library community was hesitant to abandon traditional library services (based on free reading by individuals) in favor of social education (guided reading of mandatory texts), and as a result libraries were not effective vehicles in the state’s moral suasion campaigns to ensure that all citizens were fully committed to the war effort.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3703
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2007 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Owning Collections

Library Trends 55 (3) Winter 2007: Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change PRIMARY
Library Trends 55 (3) Winter 2007: Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change. Edited by W. Boyd Rayward and Christine Jenkins.