Arvydas Kumpis
Chiune Sugihara Memorial Museum in Kaunas. Guide and resource manager

Reading room in Chiune Sugihara memorial museum: issues and prospects of specialized library
杉原千畝記念館の読書室。専門図書館の問題や見通し

Chiune Sugihara museum is a public institution primarily functioning as a memorial site for Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara. Nevertheless, the Sugihara foundation – Diplomats for Life have also an objective to gather intellectual potential, not only the people from scientific and cultural spheres of life, for the mutual effort analyzing the manifestations of tolerance and hate but also the published materials. This objective is mainly carried out by creating a specialized collection, functioning as a reading room in the museum.

The reading room and its collection are still at the initial phase. Until recently, the collected materials were uncatalogued and unindexed. Together with the reconstruction of the historical building, the accessibility of the reading room has improved and additional efforts to manage it have been dispatched. In this paper I shall present the importance of such place, the current situation of the reading room, the issues related to the expansion and management and the prospects of improvement.