User Guide

The library entrance hall is open at 9:00a.m. daily, except days the library is closed.

• Mondays (open on Mondays if a national holiday or substitute holiday.)
• The weekday following the Monday that was open on a national holiday or substitute holiday.
• Collection management period
• New Year holiday season

See the Library Calendar for details.

Library Calendar

• If you are a first time user, you are required to register your information to receive a library card.
• Please fill out an application form and submit it to the registration counter with sufficient identification documents. You can get an application form to prepare in advance and bring it to the registration counter.

application form

• A library card will be issued immediately after an application form is submitted.

Identification documents

Documentation issued by an official institute proving your name and address is required. The following identification documents are acceptable:

• Employee ID card or employment certificate issued by your employer
• Student ID card or enrollment certificate issued by your school
• Health insurance card
• Driver's license and a copy of your Jumin-hyo certificate of residence
• Japanese passport
• Gaikokujin-toroku-shomeisho alien registration card for foreign residents

The following items are not acceptable:

• Business card, badge, membership card, receipt, contract, certificate of receipt, train pass
• Blood donor's card

Note

• A library card valid for 3 years.
• You are required to renew your card when your current one expires.
• You are required to submit the same paperwork as when you originally requested a library card. You can get an application form to prepare in advance and bring it to the registration counter.

application form

• Changes of address and lost or stolen cards must be reported.

• A maximum of 10 books and magazines (including 2 CDs) per person can be checked out at one time. The loan period is a maximum of 15 days including the day an item is checked out.
• Bring items you wish to check out and your library card to the check-out counter.
• If you wish to check out an item for more than 15 days, you can renew it for one more 15 day period as long as there are no requests or holds on it. Renewals can be done by phone or online.
• Please be cautious about the new due date at the end of the renewal period, especially if you renew item before its due date.

New due date calculation:

• If you renew an item before its original due date, the item can be renewed for a maximum 15 days including the day you request renewal.
• If you renew an item after its original due date, the item is considered renewed for a maximum of 15 days from the original due date. If you fail to renew an item within 15 days, it is considered overdue.

Ex: If you originally check out an item on February 1st (which would be due on February 15th)  and renew it the following day on February 2nd, the new due date is February 16th.

Non-circulation Materials

• Items identified as non-circulation as marked with a sticker
• Cultural assets and important materials
• Library reference collection (dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, etc.)
• Newspapers, daily government journals, bulletins
• The latest issues of magazines, and magazines published in 1992 and before
• Government documents and old local history materials
• Local magazines
• Deposited materials
• Microfilm, videotapes, and audiotapes
• Old materials cataloged before 1949 (under a different classification system)

For inquiries, please contact the library at 025-284-6824 during operating hours.

• Please return items at the check-out counter in the library.
• It is not necessary to show a library card when returning items.
• When the library is closed, materials can be returned by placing them in the drop box located to the right of the main entrance. To avoid damage and breakage, CDs cannot be placed in the drop box. Please return CDs at the check-out counter.
• Patrons who wish to check out materials immediately after returning items must come to the counter instead of using the drop box.
• Patrons who are unable to come to the library to return materials may return them by mail or parcel delivery. Patrons are responsible for all shipping fees incurred.

Return address:

3-1-2 Meike-minami, Chuo-ku, Niigata City 950-8602
Please indicate that an item for return is enclosed.

• All materials belonging to the library are mutual assets of the citizens of Niigata Prefecture.
• Actions that damage items, including underlining or writing in them, are strongly prohibited.
• Patrons are fully responsible for any expenses incurred in order to replace materials that have been lost or damaged due to mishandling.

• All newspapers, magazines, and materials in the general collection room are all available to the public. (Please note that there is a limitation on the number of items each person can keep at once.)
• Please read at a table in the reading room and return items to a return shelf or at the counter in a timely manner once you have finished reading.
• Items in the library stack room are also open to the public. To request an item, submit a request form at the counter or inquire at the research consultation counter and a staff member will find the item. During periods when the stack room is open for public entry, patrons may pick up items by themselves.
• Some materials have limited accessibility.

• Computerized card catalogs are available in the general collection room. Materials can be searched by title, author, or other information. Search results can be printed for free.
• The collections of other public libraries in the prefecture can be searched on the Prefectural Library homepage.

BookSearch

• Please consult with a library staff member at the research consultation counter if you are unable to find an item you are looking for or if you don’t know how to use the system.
• Library staff members are available to assist in searching for materials by subject or for research.
• Library staff members can assist in finding related information according to interest.
• See Research for more details. 

Research

In accordance with Section 31 of the national Copyright Act and the Niigata Prefectural Library regulations, it is possible to make copies of some of the materials. Please refer to the Agency for Cultural Affairs homepage for information about the Copyright Act.

Cultural Affairs homepage 

• Public materials belonging to the library can be photocopied.
• Some contents (less than half) of literary works are allowed to be copied only for use in research projects. Old issues of newspapers and magazines can be photocopied.
• One copy is allowed per person (multiple copying is prohibited).

To make a photocopy, apply at the copy machine counter. Applications will be accepted until 30 minutes before the library closes.

Copy Fees and Service Hours

*See the Database for details.
**See the Echigo-Sado Digital Library for details.

Prices are different for mailing service of copied materials. See Mailing Service of Copied Materials for details.

Mailing Service of Copied Materials

• If the library does not own an item, it can be requested from another library through the interlibrary(libraries in municipalities, other prefectures, and universities) loan system.
• The library is also able to get a copy of an item from other libraries including the National Diet Library.
• Requests for interlibrary loans can be made at the counter. Requests are also accepted by email or fax.
• Patrons are responsible for expenses incurred.

Please contact to the library at 025-284-6824 during hours of operation.

The electronic library will be coming soon with more user-friendly functions such as allowing users to request items or renew materials online. See My Library for details.

My Library

Mail magazine service is also available.

Mail magazine service

• Computers installed in the general collection room are available for library patrons to access the internet. Some website restrictions apply. Also note that these PCs are not connected to printers and don’t have audio functions. Downloading is also prohibited.
• From the Comprehensive Database Center, patrons can search various databases for newspapers and magazine articles, daily government journals, encyclopedias, and judicial precedents.
• Searching the archives is free of cost. Search results can be printed for a fee, though some restrictions may apply. To print, please inquire at the copy machine counter.

Wireless LAN is available in some of the reading rooms.

You can use computer at computer booths.

The library has nine special collections including the designated prefectural important cultural assets Aizawa-nanjō-bunko and Gohou-bunko, a collection of Gohou Sakaguchi who is one of the most famous novelists of the Taisho era and the father of Ango Sakaguchi, a Niigata novelist.
Special collection items are only available in the library. It is also possible to view their contents via the Echigo-Sado Digital Library.

Echigo-Sado Digital Library

• Eating and drinking are only allowed in the entrance hall.
• Drinks in lidded bottles are allowed in the Lifestyle Garden corner located in front of the entrance of the general collection room. No other food and drinks are allowed.
• Cell phone use is prohibited in the general collection room. Please make cell phone calls in the public phone booth area in the entrance hall.
• Please refrain from disturbing other users. Patrons causing disruptions may be asked to leave the library.
• Patrons are responsible for their valuables.

Free seminar rooms are available for groups that are doing research, cultural, social education, and volunteer activities.

Applicable groups (with 2 or more members) must fulfill one of the following qualifications:

• Research groups using historical data materials from the library’s collection that are not available for check-out.
• Groups pre-registered at the library.
• With approval of the library, a group with no advanced registration can use a seminar room only if there is no advanced booking 14 days prior to the day the group wishes to use it.

See Seminar Room for details.

Seminar Room

How to borrow/read material s from the library’s collection via your local library

Those who live within the Prefecture

Those who live in Niigata Prefecture but far away from the library can borrow items from the library through their local library or branch library.

Contact your local library for details and request procedures.

Those who live outside of the Prefecture

With the exception of some materials, the library can loan items from its collection to libraries or branch libraries in other prefectures. Conditions, including shipping charges, vary depending on each library.

Contact to your local library for details and request procedures.

Materials not available for loan:

• Important materials and materials designated as cultural assets
• Newspapers, government journals, maps, and current issues of magazines
• Deposited materials
• Microfilms, videotapes, audiotapes, CDs, CD-ROMs
• Frequently updated materials with interchangeable pages, such as regulation file books
• Materials that are not suitable for shipping, or fragile materials that are at risk for damage by shipping

Materials that can be loaned but must be viewed at the library:

• Reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs)
• The latest issues of serial publications
• Expensive items
• Government documents and old local history materials
• Local magazines
• Magazines published before 1992
• Old materials cataloged before 1949 (under a different classification system)
• Chinese books, books bound in the traditional Japanese style
• Foreign books

The loan period for the following materials may be shortened.

• Reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs)
• The latest issues of the serial publications
• Local magazines

See Mailing Copy Service for details.

Mailing Copy Service