I. Introduction

The National Diet Library's website (http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/index.html) has been available to the public since 1996. At first, it only provided basic information such as a user guide and a profile of NDL. In 1998, it started to develop into an electronic library which provides access to bibliographic databases and digitized primary information. This article introduces NDL's electronic library project, focusing on the contents made available on the Internet through digitization of original materials.
 

II. Collection of the Electronic Library

1. Digital Library from the Meiji Era (http://kindai.ndl.go.jp)(Japanese only)

Launched in October 2002 to provide digital images of books published in the Meiji Era. About 30,000 volumes of 20,000 titles are now available as their copyrights have expired or we received permission from the copyright holders. Texts are shown in image files (GIF format or highly compressed image), while bibliographic data and table of contents are shown in text format to enable users to search for materials. 
 
 
 

"Ehon Taka Kagami" by Kawanabe Gyosai (Toiku) June 1880; from Collection of Digital Library from the Meiji Era
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The NDL has been trying for several years to identify copyright holders of potential contents of the Digital Library, but many remain undiscovered. In March 2003, it launched an open investigation using the Internet, seeking information about copyright holders (https://kokaityosa.ndl.go.jp/). Based on the information thus obtained, we confirm the copyright protection periods and take necessary steps to receive permission from the copyright holders, or ask for a compulsory license issued by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs for works about which information is still unknown, in a bid to expand the collection of the Digital Library up to 170,000 volumes of 102,000 titles in March 2005.
 
 

2. Rare Books Image Database (http://www3.ndl.go.jp/rm/index.html)(Japanese only)

As a pilot project of the NDL's Electronic Library system, we published a database of images of rare books from our collection which are not easily accessible. 
The database contained 23,000 images from 440 items when it first came out in March 2000, and since then the contents have been widened step by step to hold 31,000 images from 698 titles in June 2003.
 
 
 
 

3. Web Archiving Project (http://warp.ndl.go.jp/) (Japanese only)

The Web Archiving Project (WARP) was launched in October 2002 as an experimental project to acquire, preserve and provide useful information resources on the Internet as cultural property for future generations.

It is composed of the Government Website Collection, the Online Periodicals Collection and the Collaborating Institutions Collection, containing 966,000 files of 721 titles. 
 
 
 

As a library serving the National Diet, the NDL on its website offers resources information useful for the Diet members.

1. Full-text Database System for the Minutes of the Diet (http://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/) (Japanese only)

In cooperation with the Secretariats of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, the full-text database of the Diet session proceedings from the first session (May, 1947) was made available to the public in January 2003. 

Search functions were redesigned in April 2003: simple search and detailed search are now available. Users can also reach the proceedings they want to see by selecting from the lists step by step.
 

IV. NDL Gallery ( http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/gallery/index.html )

The NDL Gallery features electronic exhibitions of the NDL's and other institutions' collections. Primary and secondary information are edited on a specific theme.

1. Birth of the Constitution of Japan (http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/index.html)

This is an online exhibition launched in May 2003, which highlights the process of framing and promulgation of the Constitution of Japan after the end of the Second World War. From the NDL's holdings, valuable materials of that time were selected, digitized, and arranged along the timeline of the formulation process. Manuscripts are shown as image files, while text files are also available for the most important documents.

2. The History of the Japanese Calendar (http://www.ndl.go.jp/koyomi/e/index.html)

This exhibition was opened to the public when the fully revised NDL website appeared in October 2002. It offers an accessible introduction in quiz forms to the history of the Japanese calendar, showing digital images of the Daisho-reki calendar, which was popular in the Edo Period.

Daisho-reki calendar of the 2nd year of Bunkyu (1862) [Pattern on Kimono]
Please click the image to go to the quiz page.
 
 

3. Rare Books of the National Diet Library (http://www.ndl.go.jp/exhibit/50/index.html)
(Japanese only)

The digital images of rare books which were presented at an exhibition titled "Rare books of the National Diet Library", held in 1998 to commemorate the  50th anniversary the Library, were reproduced as an online exhibition and have been available on the Internet since June 1998.

4. Nippon in the World (http://www.ndl.go.jp/site_nippon/e/default.html)

Opened to the public in August 2000. This electronic exhibition consists of three parts: "Scenic Mementos of Japan," which deals with materials showing life in the Edo and Osaka areas from the Edo Period to the Meiji Era, "Vienna International Exposition," which contains documents about the World Exposition in 1873, the first one in which Japan participated, and related materials , and "Modern Japanese Political History Materials", which shows digitized important documents from the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate to the postwar Showa Period.

5. Exhibition: Eyes to Nature—Natural History in East and West (Japanese only)
(Edo: http://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/gallery/exhibit/edo/gallery_edo.html) 
(West: http://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/gallery/exhibit/west/gallery_west.html)

This exhibition was released in 1997 as a pioneer of the digital contents provided online by the NDL. The exhibits from the exhibition titled "Eyes to Nature-Natural History in East and West" held in 1989 are reproduced in digital form. 
 

Edo: A picture in the "Sessai Shasei Somoku Choju Zu" by Hattori Sessai (1807-?) NDL call no. <Toku7-653>

West: A picture in the "Plants of the coast of Coromandel" by William Roxburgh (1795-1819)  NDL call no.<WB32-2>

 

V. International Library of Children's Literature (http://www.kodomo.go.jp/)

The International Library of Children's Literature (ILCL), established as a branch library of the NDL, was partially opened to the public in May 2000 and fully opened in May 2002. The ILCL specializes in child-friendly contents. 

1. Picture Book Gallery (http://www.kodomo.go.jp/gallery/digi/index_e.html)

The Picture Book Gallery introduces in digital images the birth of the "picture book" genre and its history to the present. The Gallery that is provided via the Internet has two parts: Picture Book as Stage, and Kodomo no kuni-Artists and Children's Books in 1920s Japan. 

The Picture Book as Stage features three digitized items from eighty works that are provided in the Library. Kodomo no kuni features approximately 300 digital images from the first ten years' issues of the children's magazine of the same name that was launched in 1922.  Both parts have been available to the public since May 2000.
 

2. Digital Library of Children's Literature (http://kodomo4.kodomo.go.jp/web/ippangz/html/TOP.html) (Japanese only)

The Digital Library of Children's Literature consists of digital images of children's books published before 1950, owned by the ILCL and the NDL. The ILCL has digitized 1,500 titles and has been providing them in the Library since May 2000. Among them, 323 titles have been accessible via the Internet since April 2002 under the name of the Digital Library of Children's Literature, as their copyrights have already expired.  The search function has two kinds; one is the comprehensive lists of titles and authors in Japanese syllabary order that enables children to search the collection easily, and the other is an ordinary search by inputting keywords. 

Expansion of the scope of the Digital Library from the Meiji Era is the first challenge.  Until March 2005, publications of the Meiji Era will be the priority of digitization, and then the scope will be expanded to publications of the Taisho Era (1912-1926) and the early part of the Showa Period (1926-1949).

In addition, the "Memories of Japan" will be the general title of a series of electronic exhibitions in the NDL Gallery. Digitization and online exhibition of library holdings will be operated continuously under this general title.