Services for the National Diet
The National Diet Library (NDL)
Profile of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau
-- Serving the Members of the Diet --
History
The National Diet Library (NDL) was established soon after the end of World War II, in 1948. The primary objective in striving to develop an unprecedentedly large library was to support the Diet, to which the supreme national power was bestowed by the new Constitution, with a large collection of publications of Japan and abroad and with document research functions. Today the NDL serves not only the Diet but also the administrative and judicial branches of the government and the Japanese people in general. Of the various functions of the NDL, the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau is specialized in the principal function of providing research services to the Diet.
Functions
The functions of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau of the NDL are specified in Article 15 of the National Diet Library Law.
These are:
(1) to assist each Committee of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors through the analysis and evaluation of bills and proposals, (2) to supply and analize materials for use in national policy deliberations to the Houses, Committees and Diet Members, (3) to provide a bill-drafting service by request, and (4) to provide services to the Administrative and Judicial Branches and to the people in general in so far as its services to the Diet will not be hampered.
In performing these duties, the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau adheres to the principle of neutrality to all the political parties and Diet Members and preserve the confidentiality of research on request.
Work
The mainstay of the work of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau is research for formulating draft laws. This work is divided into the "research on request" based on requests from the Diet (i.e., the Houses, Committees and Diet Members) and the "anticipatory research" based on the prediction of requests from the Diet.
[ Research on Request ]
The answers made by the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau in connection with research on request total about 27,000 per year.
[ Anticipatory Research ]
Anticipatory research is conducted by NDL researchers on an everyday basis concerning national issues into which a request for research is anticipated. The NDL yearly formulates a "basic research work plan" covering main issues, and anticipatory research is carried out according to this plan. Issues likely to be discussed during each Ordinary session are selected as "focal research items" at the start of the Diet session, and anticipatory research on these issues is conducted accordingly. As part of the basic research work plan, "comprehensive researches" including field studies are conducted on the certain important issues that require the participation of more than one research office.
Some of the results of the anticipatory research are reported in the publications "Reference, " "Foreign Legislation, " and "Issue Brief"all published by the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau, and also in the website "Chosa-no-Mado" accessible exclusively by the Diet. As part of its anticipatory research, the Bureau may commission outside experts to give lectures and conduct research on highly specialized subjects.
Publications
The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau of the NDL recurrently publishes the materials listed below, and distributes them to the Diet Members and the House secretariats.
"Reference"(monthly)Containing research papers in various fields.
"Issue Brief" (irregular)Concise explanations of national issues
"Foreign Legislation" (quarterly)Translated introduction of foreign laws, explanation of legislation backgrounds, information on overseas statutory movements
"Research Material Series" (irregular)Research reports and materials on specific subjects
"Index to the Japanese Laws and Regulation in Force" (annual)The indexing of present laws by subject, established year and name, and the explanation of their revision history.
"Legis-mate" (irregular) newsletter distributed to Diet Members and secretariat staff.
Website "Chosa-no-Mado"
The "Chosa-no-Mado (Windows on Research Services)" is the website maintained by the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau and the Detached Library in the Diet. This website offers to the Diet Members and their staff the texts of some of the above-listed publications, research reports written by NDL researchers, the Full-text Database System for the Minutes of the Diet, web link collections, and other information. This website is limited to access from the diet.
Facilities
Both administrative and research offices and divisions of the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau are situated on the fifth floor of the NDL Main Building. The reading room and study room for Diet Members and the Statutes and Parliamentary Documents Room come under the Bureau in the organization of the National Diet Library.
[ Diet Members' Reading Room and Study Room ]
The NDL offers the use of a reading room and study room on the sixth floor of its Main Building to Diet Members wishing to use its materials and conduct research in the library. This reading room contains parliamentary minutes, statutes, dictionaries, biographical dictionaries, yearbooks, reference books, magazines and newspapers. Also provided are shelves of books written by Diet Members since the Imperial Diet days.
The study room for Diet Members contains 14 individual carrels and five group study areas, No.1 with 14 seats, No.2 with 18 seats, No.3 with 12 seats, No.4 with 10 seats, and No.5 with 24 seats. These group study areas are for teams of Diet Members to conduct joint research.
[ Parliamentary Documents and Official Publications Room ]
This room, situated on the third floor of the Annex, was formed by the integration of the Statutes and Parliamentary Documents Room and the Law, Politics and Official Publications Room. It is backed up by Japan's largest collection of statutes and parliamentary documents including Japanese and overseas official gazettes, compilations of laws and regulations, court precedents, treaty series, parliamentary records, and commentaries on major statutes.
This room also holds a wide-ranging collection related to law, politics and public administration including publications of Japanese and foreign government offices (white papers, annual reports, major statistics, etc.), documents and publications of international organizations (United Nations, EU, OECD, etc.), reference materials on law and politics, publication catalogs and indexes.
The collection housed in the Parliamentary Documents and Official Publications Room comprises about 720,000 Japanese and foreign books and serials, and about 1,650,000 microforms (as of the end of 2003); among them, about 60,000 most frequently used materials are on open shelves inside the room.
Organization and Staff
The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau is comprised of 12 research offices and 14 divisions. Both research offices and divisions are divided into two groups which are assigned to research execution and planning and to general affairs and materials management. There are about 170 staff members in the Bureau. Each research office is consists of one or more Senior Specialists and an Associate Senior Specialist or Chief Researcher. Each division is staffed by a Chief and several researchers. In some cases, guest and part-time researchers with academic qualifications are employed to delve into special research areas.