Library and Information Science

The purpose of the present paper is to collect and analyse actual data of libraries of banking institutions in Japan and to design models for bank libraries.

In the first section of the paper, the problems remaining unsolved in the past studies on business libraries in general, and then the functions and roles to be carried out by the bank library are discussed. Thirdly, the writers make efforts to collect measurable data from bank libraries in action, finding great differences in input resources and output services of bank libraries belonging to the groups of central and governmental banks, long-term credit banks, trust banks, city banks, local banks and mutual financing banks. In the last section, the writers propose a model for the bank library of each group, based on factors such as relation between input resources and output services, library services estimated in money, personnel productivity, ratio of the output services level per input resources level.