PURPOSE: To simplify and facilitate preparation at the time of using preliminary tapes and to eliminate the waste of tape resources which can be shared by preparing the preliminary tapes for lending and allocating them for users who need them.

CONSTITUTION: A lending tape allocation means 3 refers to a preliminary tape management table 2 and allocates the preliminary tapes to the users who need them. A lending period decision means 4 decides an allocated lending period. A tape information update means 5 updates the content of the preliminary tape management table 2 as to the allocated tape. A tape use term supervisory means 6 transmits a message to the user of the tape whose use term is immediate. A tape release means 8 updates the content of the preliminary tape management table 2 so that the tape whose use terminates or whose use term expires can be used again. Thus, preparation at the time of using the preliminary tapes can be simplified and facilitated and the waste of the tape resources which can be shared is eliminated.