The Southern Illinois Japanese Friendship Program is a program designed to help Japanese employees, their family members, and Japanese students living in Southern Illinois adjust to life in our state. It does this through providing contemporary Japanese books to Illinois residents who are Japanese, providing religious outlets for Japanese residents in Downstate Illinois, working with area educational service providers to offer ESL and American cooking classes to Japanese residents, and a growing list of other services. It is also meant to teach American residents of Illinois about Japan through the use of the library's growing collection of books in English about Japan and the creation of anime clubs at Marion Carnegie and other public libraries. The Southern Illinois Japanese Friendship Program started in October of 2005. The funding for the program has come primarily through two grants awarded by the Illinois State Library, a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

Currently, the partners of the Southern Illinois Japanese Friendship Program include: Aisin Illinois, North American Lighting, Marion Carnegie Library, Paris Carnegie Library, the Williamson County Regional Economic Development Corporation, the Marion Chamber of Commerce, the Marion Unit 2 School District, Aldersgate United Methodist Church, and John A. Logan College. The list of partners continues to grow. At Marion Carnegie Library, the Japanese books available for checkout provided through the grants funding this program number about 800 titles. By June of 2007, it is hoped that the books at the library will include around 1000 titles, there will be about 300 Japanese DVDs, and the library will carry 5 Japanese magazines. The Japanese materials at the library include fiction and nonfiction materials for children and adults, with a wide range of interests and subjects covered. In the event that you live outside of Illinois and you would like to borrow an item from Marion Carnegie Library's Japanese collection, please ask your local librarian about the Interlibrary Loan Program.

Please find links to pages related to the Southern Illinois Japanese Friendship Program in the navigation bar on the left. If you have questions about this program, please look over the information provided on this website. After doing so, if you still have questions, please direct them to Robert Newcomb, the coordinator of this program. Mr. Newcomb's email address is rnewcomb@shawls.lib.il.us.