Oya Soichi Library celebrates its 50th anniversary: "As long as people come to use it, we will remain open."

    Oya Soichi Library, renowned to be the first magazine library in Japan and holding about 800,000 volumes of magazines, celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 17. Through crowdfunding and donations, the library is able to keep its business running and they promised that "as long as there are people who will come to use the library, they will remain open."

    Located in Setagaya, Tokyo, it was established as a private library in 1971. Oya Soichi Library gets its name from the famous journalist and critic, Oya Soichi, and holds his archive collection. It also possesses about 800,000 volumes of 12,700 different types of magazines.

    Although the library decided not to hold a 50th anniversary event because of COVID-19, many came by looking for documents as soon as the library opened at 11 am.

    During peak times, the Oya Soichi Library gets more than 90,000 visitors annually. However, because of the widespread use of the internet, there has not been as many visitors and the library relies on the help of crowdfunding and new sponsors to keep it running.

    Nevertheless, the library does not only specialize in possessing an extensive collection of magazines, but it also updates its database of articles every year. The library also made a general catalog of its collection in conjunction with its 50th anniversary.

    Oya Eiko, Oya Soichi's third daughter and the chairwoman of this library, said, "In the era of both mass production and mass consumption, I think that the value of archives have become more significant. Even though maintaining the library will be difficult, as long as there are people coming to use the library, we will remain open. I believe that we can keep it open."

Source: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210517/k10013035511000.html?utm_int=news-culture_contents_list-items_003