Why a Library? "When people still need water, food and shelter."

Abstract

Repeated large-scale disasters in Japan—from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake to the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake—have revealed that library resilience in disaster contexts extends far beyond the physical recovery of facilities. Drawing on experiences in Japan and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, a UN-endorsed global plan, this poster proposes a three-dimensional resilience framework for libraries.

Organizational Resilience concerns libraries' capacity to maintain and restore services during disasters, encompassing seismic preparedness, business continuity plans (BCPs), and disaster-response competencies among library staff. Cultural Resilience highlights libraries' role as "memory defense mechanisms"—rescuing damaged materials, building disaster archives, and transmitting community memory to future generations. Community Resilience positions libraries as anchor institutions that provide information access, psychological stability, and social connection during crises, functioning as safe public spaces and symbols of normalcy.

This poster identifies systemic barriers in Japan: low BCP adoption; insufficient and unstable staffing of professional librarians; limited budgets for disaster preparedness; and the exclusion of libraries from legally designated public disaster-response institutions. Through cross-sector partnerships involving NGOs, publishers, and food-relief organizations, this poster presents practical strategies to address these structural challenges and offers a replicable model for the global library community.