Welcome to the London Language Centre's Library - the first resource of its kind in the UK, providing access to a wide range of contemporary Japanese language teaching materials.
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Who is the Library for?
The library is primarily designed to serve Japanese language teachers at all levels, researchers in fields related to Japanese language teaching and administrators at UK educational institutions. Learners of Japanese in higher education and adult education may also use the library on a reference-only basis.
The Collection
The collection includes textbooks, reference books, picture panels, periodicals, books on linguistics and Japanese language teaching, audio-cassettes, videos and computer-assisted learning packages.
Membership
There are two categories of membership, full membership with borrowing rights and reference-only membership. The memberships are valid for one year.
Full Membership
Only members of the library may borrow library materials. Membership of the library is free of charge, provided that the membership criteria below are satisfied.
Eligibility
UK residents who are:
- teaching Japanese language at a UK educational institution or at a UK voluntary organisation
- researching Japanese language, Japanese language teaching or Japanese studies at a UK educational institution
- working in a UK educational institution and need access to the library to carry out duties
- MA, PhD and PGCE students specialising in Japan related subjects at a UK university.
- one recognised form of identification bearing the applicant's name and current address (e.g. passport, driving license, or a photocopy of bank statement or bill is acceptable).
- proof of eligibility (e.g.recommendation letter signed by the employer on headed paper or staff card)
- two recent passport-sized photographs.
For applicants unable to visit the library in person, the London Language Centre welcomes applications by post.
People who do not fulfill the criteria above may not borrow the library materials but may use the library facilities for reference purposes, provided they fall into any of the criteria listed below:
Eligibility
- undergraduates and graduate students of Japanese studies/language
- students attending Japanese teacher training courses at private institutions
- teaching Japanese language but are ineligible for full membership (eg. private teachers)
- conducting research into the Japanese language, Japanese language teaching or Japanese studies at educational institutions outside the UK.
Opening Hours
6th Floor
Russell Square House
10-12 Russell Square
London WC1B 5EH
The Library is open Monday-Friday from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm (excluding public holidays, please see below). Please note however that on every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month the library is open from 2pm to 7pm, and on these days it is closed in the morning.
The library will be closed on Monday 5th May, Tuesday 6th May and Monday 26th May.
The library is closed at weekends. In addition, we will close on the following English and Japanese National Holidays in 2008: 1-3 Jan; 11 Feb; 20, 21, 24 Mar; 5, 6, 26 May; 25 Aug; 15 Sep; 13 Oct; 3 Nov; 25, 26, 29-31 Dec.
Loan by Post
If you are unable to visit the library in person, we operate a 'loans by post service' which enables you to borrow up to 3 books and 2 audio-visual materials for a period of up to 3 weeks. All you have to do is to search our library catalogue on the Web and telephone, fax or email the librarian with your request.
The library catalogue
Ways of searching: You can search the catalogue by author, title, keywords, OR by selecting the level of the students from the pop-up list. You can narrow down this type of search by clicking on either a skill, or on a resource type or both from the pop-up lists. You can also browse through our collection or search it by ISBN number.
Japan Foundation Libraries Multi-Catalogue Search: You can search the Japan Foundation Libraries in Urawa, Tokyo and Kansai using OPAC. Should you wish to order a photocopy* of any of the items from these libraries please contact the Library/ Resource Officer for an application form.
* Please note that this is dependent upon copy right law and it may not be possible to photocopy all the items you request.
Necessary software: The best way to search the library catalogue on the web is in Romaji. In order to see the Japanese records without a front-end processor, you will need to use Netscape or Internet Explorer (version 5.00 or above). Click on "View", then "Encoding" or "Character Set", and then "Japanese" or "Japanese (EUC-JP)". If you don't have the right software to read Japanese, you can still see the title and author of a book on the top of the detailed record in Romaji.
Click here to email the librarian to request a book or an application form.
The Japan Foundation
London Language Centre
Library
6th Floor
Russell Square House
10-12 Russell Square
London WC1