Tokyo Institute of Technology Library is the largest library treating books and journals regarding science and technology in Japan. About 19,000 books and 3,300 journals are taken in this library, and currently 793,000 book and 16,000 journals are kept in the library. Recently, the number of online journals dealt with by the library has increased. It amounted to 10,000 in 2010. It started in 1882 as the library of the Tokyo Vocational School, and at that time it had nearly 4700 books. In the following year, the legislation for the library was made, and it became a bigger library which occupied 457,000 m² in 1902. One year after the library lost nearly 28,000 books in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, it was reconstructed in Ookayama, Meguro, making its size 862 m². When Tokyo Institute of Technology was founded in 1929, the library was leagally recognised. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the library committee was constructed in 1948. During 1970s, there happened many important changes such as construction of new building for the library in Nagatsuta. In 1986, the library introduced a system of online journal search with LAN

Län

Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....

. Online journal started in 1995. Four years later, Tokyo Institute of Technology digital library

Digital library

A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...

(TDL) was introduced. In 2002 GIF projects started. T2R2 system started in 2007, and a new library was constructed in 2011.