Emerging trends in reference services in libraries of Japan: Focussing on the results of questionnaire survey 2012/2013

The author played a role of the leader in a research project by the National Diet Library of Japan in 2012/2013, whose title is "Issues and Perspectives on Reference Services in Libraries of Japan." In that paper, he discussed the characteristics and "emerging trends" of reference services in the current context of public, academic, special, and national libraries, using the results of questionnaire survey as a core product of the research project. In this paper firstly, introduced are the recognitions, ideas, and practices uniquely recognized as to reference services. Secondly, the author analyses a few features shown in the results of the survey, relating to information resources, staffs, challenges, and disaster management, which are thought of "emerging trends" in Japanese libraries. Lastly, pointed out is the matter of "non-emerging trends," that is, issues which have not been developed nor progressed yet in Japanese libraries.