There was a nice symmetry to the first task set at the Japan Specialist Workshop, which is currently being hosted by the National Diet Library (NDL) and the International House of Japan. "I want you to find the first Japanese translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes,' " lecturer Ayano Hattori told the nine assembled researchers — budding Sherlock Holmeses of academia, if you like.
The workshop, which is being held in its current form for the first time this year, sees librarians and researchers who specialize in Japan invited to this country for a week to learn about the kinds of resources available at the NDL and in other databases, conduct their own research and also forge networks with other academics.
"The information environment has changed so rapidly over the last four or five years," explained Naoko Harai, an NDL staffer who specializes in interlibrary cooperation and who helped organize the event. "The idea is to show the researchers what kind of resources are available both at the NDL and in databases run by other organizations such as the National Institute of Informatics."