A man uses a ultraviolet sterilizing machine cleaning a library book he rents at Narimasu library in Itabashi district in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters TOKYO – Libraries in Japan are hoping a machine that ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Libraries in Japan are hoping a machine that sterilizes books using ultraviolet light is giving visitors reassurance to take-out publications during the coronavirus pandemic.

Just as libraries in the US have had to learn to navigate the sometimes frustrating world of digital content circulation, libraries in Japan have launched digital lending initiatives of their own.

Sep. 1—A "sister library " agreement between the Hawaii State Public Library System and the Hiroshima Prefectural Library in Japan has been created to encourage a wider love for reading, as well as ...

Unable to afford textbooks while growing up on Japan’s northwest coast, Yoko Breckenridge would borrow them from friends and copy each chapter by hand. Breckenridge, who married an American soldier ...

This photo taken in September 2025 shows "Shiori the AI Librarian" projected on a screen in Tokyo's Nakano Ward. (Mainichi/Kazuko Hamada) Visitors to a certain library in Japan's capital were greeted ...

Visitors to a certain library in Japan's capital were greeted by a poster reading, "Please try the 'AI (artificial intelligence) librarian!'" But what is an AI librarian? Librarians are, of course, ...