A NDL delegation visited China for five days from October 14 to 25, 1997, for the 17th Mutual Visit Program between the National Diet Library (NDL) and the National Library of China (NLC). Headed by Mineo Miyawaki, Deputy Librarian, the delegation consisted of the following four other members: Noriyoshi Tsuchiya, Deputy Director of the Acquisitions Department, Hiroshi Ito, Chief of the Indexing Division, Serials Department, Takashi Tomikubo, Senior Librarian of the Special Materials Department, and Shigako Okamura, Reference Librarian of the Overseas Information Division, Research and Legislative Reference Bureau.

This was the 9th visit from the NDL under the program, which was started in 1981. This time the delegates also participated in the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the new building and the 85th anniversary of the NLC.

The program comprised the following plenary meeting and two section meetings. Unlike the last time, each section meeting was attended by all the participants.

Plenary Meeting: Functions of national libraries in the digitalization age and possibilities of cooperation between Japanese and Chinese national libraries

The Plenary Meeting in the morning of October 16 opened with a keynote speech by Mr. Miyawaki. He reported that the National Diet Library, in the highly advanced information age, aims to be a library accessible to anyone, at anytime, from anywhere including foreign countries, that is, an electronic library. To achieve this, the NDL is now reorganizing the system of processing bibliographic data, and is promoting the acquisition of electronic publications, the distribution of our databases to the outside of the library, networking through computers and so on. He also said that the NDL understands the significance of information exchange between Japan and China and that it wishes to continue discussing in detail how both libraries should cooperate with each other on the basis of the past 16 Mutual Visit Programs.

Mr. Zhou Heping, Deputy Director, then spoke and stressed that the NLC is meeting challenges in the rapid progress of the highly advanced information age and has introduced plans, which will be completed in 2005, to cope with the situation. In the first phase of the plans, infrastructure in the library, including LAN, will be established and connected to the information super highway. Then, in the second phase, the NLC will research and establish an electronic library. Mr. Zhou said that he hopes to cooperate in what both libraries can agree upon and what can be done easily, to start with, in the fields of document supply, information and staff exchange and the like.

Section Meeting I: Cooperation in making bibliographic databases

Ms. Sun Beixin, Deputy Director of the NLC, chaired the meeting. There was no report from China, and Mr. Ito and Mr. Tomikubo reported on the development of databases in the National Diet Library and possibilities of cooperation on a bibliographic database of Chinese materials. The latter part is deeply related with an Asian Resource Information Center in the Kansai-kan (tentative name).

The participants of both libraries discussed mainly databases and electronic publications and electronic libraries. The NLC proposed joint development of a Chinese materials database among the NDL, the NLC and, before long, the NACSIS. The Japanese delegates responded that it was possible, for the NACSIS was examining cataloging rules in using CHINA/MARC.

Section Meeting II: Cooperation in document supply - mainly in photocopy service

The National Diet Library and the National Library of China reported on their own photocopy service. Mr. Ito gave a report on problems of copyright and improvement of the service, and new plans of the NDL. Mr. Cao Baohui, Deputy Director of the Book-Collecting and Circulation Department, introduced the service provided both inside and outside of China, mainly in figures.

Both libraries have common problems and common recognition of the significance of the international document supply service, while we have different ideas on how urgent it is to solve these problems.

After the section meetings, the NLC made the following proposals to strengthen our cooperative relations based on the principle of "resource sharing, reciprocity, mutual cooperation, development of the relationship":

1. Mutual Visit Program as before
2. Staff exchange
3. Cooperation in development and use of bibliographic databases
4. Cooperation in document supply service
5. Cooperation in the NDL's acquiring Chinese materials for an Asian Resource Information Center in the Kansai-kan (tentative name)

"Cooperation in NDL's acquiring juvenile materials for the International Library of Children's Literature" was added at the request of NDL. The NLC recognized the proposals to be examined back in Japan, and the Japanese delegates promised to.

With the Summing-up Meeting held on October 20, the whole agenda of this program was completed. The aim this time was to seek more practical cooperation in the highly advanced information age, and the result was quite fruitful. The proposals from China are now under examination in related departments and the NDL will be able to present our own proposals to China before long.