• Index of this issue

No. 65, July 2009

Composition of the collection

The Newspaper collection of the National Diet Library (NDL) started with newspapers inherited from its predecessors, the former Ueno Library, and those held by the former House of Representatives and the House of Peers. The NDL has been adding newly acquired newspapers since its foundation in 1948. The oldest newspaper in the NDL holdings is "Kanpan Batahiya Shimbun" (Government Batavia Newspaper) published in 1862. As of May 2009, the NDL holds 9,215 titles of Japanese newspapers and 1,276 titles of foreign newspapers in paper form including original, reduced and photo-reproduced editions, and in microform. In addition it also has 54 titles of digital newspapers. In total, 10,545 titles of newspapers are held in the NDL.

Policy for acquisition

The NDL has been collecting domestic newspapers comprehensively under the legal deposit system and it also collects foreign newspapers mainly from major countries. For major newspapers from other countries, we try to collect at least one title from each country. Currently the NDL has newspapers from about 70 countries. We actively collect foreign newspapers in Japanese. For newspapers in G8 and Asian countries, we intend to collect trade papers, major local papers and papers on certain subjects as well as national papers. The domestic newspaper collection includes national papers, regional papers, financial papers, political party papers, and sports papers. One of the most remarkable features of NDL's newspaper collection is the collection of newspaper clippings from major domestic papers, that is, articles filed by classification from 1948 to 1992 (about 2 million articles).

Newspaper Reading Room

Most of the newspaper collection is available in the Newspaper Reading Room in the Tokyo Main Library while the major Asian language newspaper collection is available in the Kansai-kan. Most NDL stacks are closed to users, but 125 titles of major national and regional newspapers, their reduced editions, and three foreign newspapers are freely available on open shelves in the Newspaper Reading Room. In addition, online databases including ProQuest Newsstand Complete, LexisNexis, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and newspaper article databases of national papers are available via PC terminal in the Newspaper Reading Room. FY2008 statistics show that 200,514 users visited the Room and that 184,997 items were circulated and 70,629 items were photocopied. The Room is one of the most heavily used special materials rooms in the NDL.

Preservation

To preserve newspapers, we bind original newspapers and make microforms of them at the same time. This is also to prevent deterioration of materials and to provide users with efficient access to frequently used materials. For this purpose, the NDL launched a cooperative project, still ongoing, with the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association (from 1998 with the Japan Newspaper Foundation for Education and Culture) to make microfilms of the newspapers published by the members of the Association. The members provide and entrust the NDL with original newspapers and their master negatives. The NDL's role is to preserve original papers and negatives.

Apart from this project, the NDL has also been working on projects to microfilm old newspapers in its holdings to cope with the materials' deterioration. We have finished microfilming most of the domestic papers issued before World War II. We are also planning to digitize newspapers microfilmed by the NDL in 2010. The number of titles to be digitized will reach about 300, and microfilm reels, about 3,000.

National Union Catalog of Newspapers in Japan

Another pillar of the NDL's projects is the National Union Catalog of Newspapers in Japan. This is a nationwide database which provides holding data and location information of newspapers held by libraries in Japan. Compared with books or magazines, newspapers require more prompt reporting, and long-term use and preservation of newspapers are more difficult by reason of the shape and quality of the materials. So microforms, reproductions and reprinted editions of newspapers are made in institutions. Aiming at promoting information-sharing among those institutions, the National Union Catalog of Newspapers in Japan has been available via the Internet since February 2003. As of May 2009, the database contains 38,550 bibliographic records, information on 1,251 institutions, and 76,725 holding data.