No.76 Achieved 7 million visitors at the Central Library

The Inagi City Central Library opened on July 1, 2006, and on February 7 this year, a commemorative ceremony was held to celebrate the 7 millionth visitor. A certificate and a commemorative gift were presented to the 7 millionth visitor.
The Central Library aims to be a library for citizens that can be used anytime, anywhere, by anyone, and serves as the central facility of the city's network of six libraries. It adopted the PFI method, the first of its kind for a public library in eastern Japan. Private Finance Initiative (PFI project) is based on the "Act on Promotion of Development, etc. of Public Facilities Utilizing Private Funds," and involves using private funds and management capabilities for the construction, maintenance, and operation of public facilities.
This PFI project is operated by "Inagi Library Service Co., Ltd.", a Special Purpose Company (SPC) established with investments from NTT Data, Kumagai Gumi, and others. By outsourcing to the private sector, issues that were difficult to address under the traditional public establishment and management system have been resolved, making it easier to use.
The library is open almost every day of the year, from 9 AM to 8 PM, totaling 345 days annually. It features IC tags, automatic lending machines, 24-hour lending lockers, and wireless LAN access points.

The introduction of IT technology included many firsts in Japan at the time of the facility's opening, leading to dramatic improvements not only in services for users but also in operational management efficiency, such as reducing inventory time.
Thanks to the new building and IT technology, since its opening, the library has been used by a large number of visitors, with the annual number of visitors fluctuating around 550,000. According to the number of book loans in cities of similar population size published in the "Library Yearbook" by the Japan Library Association, it had ranked first nationwide since its opening. Although it unfortunately ranked second last year, this was not due to a decrease in users of the Central Library, but because a new library within a complex facility was established in Obu City, Aichi Prefecture, surpassing the number of visitors. The Central Library still maintains the number one position nationwide in the number of book loan reservations.
In the 2016 library system update, we established a "Reservation Pickup Corner" where you can process your own checkouts at the reservation shelves, and introduced a new service called the "Reading Passbook." This service issues a bank passbook-style record book that, when inserted into a machine, prints the titles, authors, and loan dates of the materials you have borrowed.
As a measure to address children's declining interest in reading, we issue this reading passbook free of charge to children in the city who are in kindergarten or school up to junior high school. This reading passbook has been very well received, and we have also received requests from high school students and adults. We have now expanded the service and will issue it for a fee to all applicants who were previously ineligible, so please take advantage of this opportunity.
At the Inagi City Library, we are promoting various initiatives such as storytelling sessions, various courses and lectures, lucky bags, blind exhibitions, and backstage tours, aiming to be a facility that all citizens, from infants and young children to older adults, can enjoy.