The Museum of Modern Japanese Literature, the first literature museum in our country, was established in 1963, but already in the prewar period efforts were sporadically made for the preservation of literary heritage. Indeed a prototype of literature museum can be traced back to Shiki-an and Sōseki-sanbō, the writers' houses transformed into archives of their works in the Meiji Period. They were born in the contexts of writers' demand for the advancement of their social status, the government's cultural policy of architectural conservation, and other historical factors.

There is the collection of Japanese books in the National Library of Indonesia which were brought into Indonesia during the period of Japanese occupation. The collection consists largely of newly published books for distribution to Japanese libraries which were then planned to be constructed across the country. With this primary source this article will historically delineate the circulation and reception of Japanese publications in prewar and wartime Indonesia.

The Library of the General Government of Korea was established in April 1925, but it had issued no official gazette until October 1935. Chōsen-no-toshokan, a magazine published by the library staff, is the only material available for researching on the imperial library's historical role in Korea under Japan's occupation. Not surprisingly we can know from the magazine how the library worked within the ideological framework of imperialism. But we can also know from the same magazine how it inadvertently transgressed the framework with unexpected effects on Korean users. Thus the function of the library was determined not only by the dominant ideology of imperialism but also by struggles and negotiations among diverse social sectors.

During the wartime period the government controlled freedom of expression and economically regulated the publishing industry. Ultimately its control came to be extended over the private act of reading books. The national reading campaign is a typical device for it. A reading campaign started by Kunizō Nakata in Ishikawa Prefecture developed into the national movement which was boosted by libraries all over the country. Thus since the eruption of the war libraries had gradually changed from a space of individual reading through a laboratory of collective reading for public enlightenment finally to an ideological apparatus for the formation of totalitarian reading under the fascist regime.

Literary imagination is created by interactions between our psyche, personality, and reading habit. It is closely related to the social functions of libraries to define our reading predilections with no small influence on the formation of our personality. Therefore libraries are always in danger of being abused as an ideological apparatus for surveillance and discipline through our reading records and habits. This article will explicate both the limitations and possibilities of libraries in cultivating our literary imagination.

Now a library is expected to more comprehensively fulfill its communicative and archival function. In each community it can serve as a center of information on education, business, and other regional activities. It may also promote the community's local culture and stimulate its economy by means of tourism. In short it must become a communal and communicative site where people can work together to create new plans, perspectives, and possibilities.