• Index of this issue

No. 76, March 2013

In January 2012, the National Diet Library (NDL) introduced a new integrated library system. With the renewal of the system, the NDL changed the formats of bibliographic and authority records and character code as follows:
(1) The formats of bibliographic and authority records were changed from UNIMARC compatible format to MARC 21.
(2) The character code was changed from Shift JIS to Unicode.

This article introduced details of these changes.

(1) The formats of bibliographic and authority records
The NDL has been created the Japanese National Bibliography as the sole national bibliography agency in Japan and provided its machine readable version to the public. The JAPAN/MARC was the local format based on UNIMARC until December 2011. But given that bibliographic records are now distributed across borders, the local format needed data conversion which entailed certain costs. So the NDL decided to adopt MARC 21, the de facto universal standard, instead of the traditional format. The specification of the new JAPAN/MARC format based on MARC 21 is available on the NDL website ( Japanese only).

Written Japanese has three kinds of character: hiragana, katakana and kanji (Chinese characters). Hiragana and katakana are both syllabary characters but kanji have several ways of reading the sounds (yomi). For example, “東,” a Kanji character meaning the east, has yomi of “tō,” “azuma” or “higashi.” So, it is necessary to keep both Japanese kanji script and its sounds in the bibliographic records. The prior format had kanji script, katakana script and alphabetical transcription in different sub-fields in the same field. When making the shift to MARC 21 format, the most difficult problem was how to deal with the features of written Japanese including yomi in the new format. In accordance with “Model A : Vernacular and transliteration” in “MARC 21 Formats Documentation Appendix D - Multiscript Records,” the new JAPAN/MARC keeps the katakana script and the alphabetical transcription in field 880.

A part of the NDL-OPAC display of MARC 21 (MARC Tags)

Bibliographic records of the NDL can be downloaded in the various formats including MARC 21 in our online public access catalog “NDL-OPAC.”

(2) The character code
The NDL also changed the character code of JAPAN/MARC in January 2012. Before that, the NDL used the Japanese unique character code “Shift JIS” for the JAPAN/MARC. However it is not possible to describe Asian scripts such as Chinese and Korean with Shift JIS. Hence, JAPAN/MARC could not include bibliographic records of Asian collection published in Japan.
Since January 2012, instead of Shift JIS, the NDL used Unicode for JAPAN/MARC and bibliographic records of the Asian collection have also been provided in a similar way to the Japanese collection.
In addition, using Unicode makes international distribution of our bibliographic and authority records much easier. The NDL participated in the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) and has been providing its authority records. In the VIAF, the NDL authority records and others provided from various countries are displayed in a cluster. The VIAF exchanges links with the authority records searching and providing service of the NDL “Web NDL Authorities” (Japanese only).

A detailed information screen of the VIAF

For the last several years, the NDL has been striving to provide bibliographic and authority records internationally. But now, the circumstances surrounding bibliographic records show signs of gradual change; for example, the Library of Congress announced a draft report of the bibliographic framework, intending to replace MARC. Keeping an eye on the World trend, the NDL will continue to make efforts to improve and promote our bibliographic records.