The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) in the Netherlands has signed a joint operating agreement with the National Diet Library in Japan. The two national libraries will cooperate in several areas, such as digitisation and long-term digital preservation. By means of exchange programmes, employees of both institutions will acquire experience and exchange specific knowledge.
Japan and the Netherlands have an age-long trade past, which is reflected in the libraries collections. Letters, drawings and books show the influence which the Netherlands has had on Japan in the 17th - 19th century. Parts of these collections will be now digitised and by means of the Internet become available for a broad public.
In the field of digital preservation there is a longer existing cooperation between the KB and the National Diet Library. Both national libraries have a task to keep the digital heritage available, where the KB plays also an international role as digital archive for large scientific publishers such as Elsevier, Springer and Blackwell. The institutions will jointly develop new methods and techniques for long-term accessibility of digital publications.