Abstract: At 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, a large earthquake occurred in East Japan, which broke the record of Ma 9, the highest in the history of earthquake monitoring in Japan, and then triggered a huge tsunami with wave height of 10 meters. Affected by the tsunami, a series of nuclear accidents took place in Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant such as furnace. This paper summarizes what assistance has been received by the public libraries affected by the East Japan earthquake as of February 2016, and what assistance given to the residents of the affected areas in terms of books and reading. The role of public libraries in the extraordinary period and some future topics are also investigated. 

Key words: The great East Japan earthquake, Public library, Disaster assistance, Japan Library Association