A: It depends on the kind of materials and the time of cataloging. Rules used now are below:

Japanese books - "Nippon Cataloging Rules 1987 third revised edition" (2006), "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only), "Nippon Decimal Classification 9th revised" (1995), "National Diet Library List of Subject Headings "(Japanese only).

Western Books - "Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, second edition, Japanese edition" (1982), "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only).
* Books in Western languages published in Japan are cataloged in the same way as Japanese books

Japanese/Western serials (periodicals, newspapers) - "Nippon Cataloging Rules 1987 third revised edition" (2006), "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only)

Japanese non-book materials - "Nippon Cataloging Rules 1987 third revised edition" (2006), "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only), "Nippon Decimal Classification 9th revised" (1995)

Western non-book materials - "Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, second edition, Japanese edition" (1982), "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only)

Materials in Asian languages - "Nippon Cataloging Rules 1987 third revised edition" (2006) [for Chinese and Korean], "Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, second edition, Japanese edition" (1982) [for other Asian languages], "National Diet Library Classification "(Japanese only)

For details about cataloging rules and classifications and their chronological transitions, please refer to the "List of Applied Rules "

A: Yes. Some statistics concerning cataloging are contained in the "Annual Report of the National Diet Library". For the latest data, refer to "Cataloging in Statistics "

A: Yes. Please refer to the "Cataloging Tools " (Japanese only) on the "Compilation and Supply of Catalogs and Bibliographies" (Japanese only).

A: The National Diet Library Classification is the classification for both bibliographic and shelf classification maintained by the NDL.

• "National Diet Library Classification " (Japanese Only)

A: Subject headings indicate the themes of a material by a controlled vocabulary or vocabularies to serve as a clue for search. The National Diet Library List of Subject Headings (NDLSH) is a list of subject headings applied to the catalog of the NDL. All topical headings and some proper name headings are included.

• "National Diet Library List of Subject Headings " (Japanese Only)

A: To Japanese books, topical headings and proper name headings such as personal names and corporate body names are basically assigned in accordance with the National Diet Library List of Subject Headings (NDLSH). However, subject headings are not assigned to the following materials: material whose subject is not clear, material that covers many subjects and the major subject is not identifiable, literature, artistic production, study guide, test guide, foreign language study aids, telephone directory, comic, etc.

To some western books the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are applied. Western books cataloged between September 1986 and March 2002 have Japanese subject headings based on the NDLSH, too.

A: ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. For efficient distribution of books, a number that uniquely identifies a book is assigned. It is useful when searching books or distinguishing a specific book from others. It is usually printed on the colophon, back cover or book jacket. For more information, see the website of The International ISBN Agency .

ISSN stands for International Standard Serial Number. A number is assigned to identify each title of serial publications. In principle, it is printed in the upper right portion of the front cover. For more information, see "Japanese National Centre for ISSN ".