National Diet Library Newsletter
No. 107, January 1999
 |
 |
Total System for Research and Information Services Developed by the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau, National Diet Library (JAPAN)
Takashi Tsukamoto*
Contents
Summary
The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau, a department
of the National Diet Library (Japan) which provides information and analytical
support services for the Diet (Parliament), has just developed a Total
System for Research and Information Services.
The System consists of two subsystems: Tracking Request
System and Information Sharing System. The Tracking Request System makes
it easier for staffers of the Bureau to monitor the status of enquiries
from Members, analyze the needs of the Members and the operations of the
Bureau, and make use of the results of past research. The Information Sharing
System is a unique database compiled by the analysts of the Bureau themselves
by inputting materials and information they found useful for their work
for the Diet, shared among the staffers of the Bureau, and eventually offered
for the Members' use.
A special application software was developed based
on "Oracle Server 7.3.3 Enterprise Edition" and using "Power Builder."
The full-text search engine is "Oracle ConText Option." Various kinds of
devices are provided to protect data and to secure the system against unauthorized
use.
The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau (hereafter
referred to as the Bureau) is a department of the National Diet Library
(NDL). Whereas NDL functions both as the parliamentary library and the
national library of Japan, the Bureau assists Houses, Committees and Members
of the Diet (Parliament of Japan) in their legislative and oversight activities
through information, research and analytical services.
The Bureau, with a staff of 160 including 100 subject
specialists, answers 30,000 enquiries each year, ranging from simple data
finding answered by phone to highly complex analysis which needs a special
report. All the researches and answers are done without partisan bias and
in strict confidence. Besides doing research work on demand, the Bureau
conducts anticipatory studies on its own initiative, taking up issues likely
to be debated in the Diet, the results of which are provided to the Members
through Issue Brief and other publications.
The major resource for the research services of the
Bureau is the huge collection of the National Diet Library that counts
6.9 million volumes of books and 260,000 titles of serials. In addition,
the Bureau has its own budget of about US$330,000 to purchase working materials
and $70,000 to use commercial databases annually. The books, periodicals
and other materials purchased are either kept in the Research Materials
Room or distributed to ten research divisions organized according to subject.
The Statutes and Parliamentary Documents Room, the Bureau's law library,
also has its own budget of about $200,000 to acquire statutes and parliamentary
documents of foreign countries.
Filing record
Requests from Members are received either at the Legislative Reference and Coordinating Division (hereafter Coordinating Div.) or at each research division. The staffer who answers the phone inputs such necessary items as the Member's name, subject (question), deadline (date and time), secretary's name for contact, special remarks, etc. A table of Members is maintained by the Coordinating Div., and if one enters only a part of the client's name, a list of the Members with whose names contain that part comes up. When the correct name is selected, the full name, House, party and phone number are entered automatically. A number that identifies the request, reception date and time, and recipient's name (who logged in) are also automatically registered. Thus a record is filed on the server, and its status is marked "received."
Transmission
Among requests received at the Coordinating Div., quick references and requests for specific books or articles are answered by the division itself, while other requests which need the research work of subject specialists are transmitted to a research division. A sign appears and an alarm sounds (by option) on the client PC at the research division. When the request transmitted is accepted by the research division, the division Chief or other analyst who took up the request clicks his name, and the status of the record changes from "received" to "accepted."
Processing
After the analyst assigned has done the research and
answered the request, he inputs the results - date and time of answer,
summary of answer, documents and materials used, and statistical data such
as type of request (drafting, analysis, research/reference, specific material),
type of answer (report, presentation/briefing, photocopying of articles,
lending books, etc.), regional grouping of subject (domestic, foreign,
both, others), and classification of subject or keyword (if necessary).
The analyst can also enter (attach to the record) any document in digital
form, such as the report he prepared, document downloaded from internet
resource, selected list or bibliography made using database, and material
scanned either graphically or by OCR (within the limits of copyright law.)
When the date and time of answer are entered, an
asterisk disappears from the list of requests to be answered. The status
sign of the record changes from "accepted" to "answered" after filling
up all the necessary inputting fields.
Approval
The request answered is submitted and circulated electronically
to the division Chief, Senior Specialist(s) in charge, Coordinating Div.,
and finally to the Director of the Bureau for approval. If one of the supervisors
clicks on a button, a list of the records (requests) which have not been
approved by him appears. He should then chose one, click on the tabs to
display client, question, answer, attached file, etc., check the contents
and click again to give approval.
Whereas such information as the client, subject of
request, date and time of receipt, and deadline for answer can be browsed
by any authorized persons in the Bureau, the contents of the answer are
shared only after the division Chief has entered his approval mark in the
record. The status sign of the record changes from "answered" to "approved"
when the Director clicks his name.
Display/Search
The requests filed on the server can be displayed
in various forms - list style or tab style as to specific record. Firstly,
one can set various "default" lists such as the list of all the requests
of whatever status, the same but limited to a specific division, requests
of "received" and "accepted" status (which means not yet answered), requests
assigned to a specific analyst, etc. Secondly, a specific record can be
displayed in detail. In this case, client-related information, question,
answer and materials used or attached, and statistical information are
displayed by clicking each tab.
All fields can be retrieved - client, question, answer,
attachment, or division, recipient, acceptor, secretary's name, phone number,
etc. Full text search is possible for question, answer, attached documents,
and comment and note corner. The result of retrieval is displayed in list
form, from which one can select one record and look at it in detail. Various
kinds of statistics are also available.
Display and search function make it easier for staffers
of the Bureau to monitor the status of requests, make use of the results
of past research, share information with other analysts or divisions, and
analyze the needs of the Members and the operations of the Bureau.
The National Diet Library maintains a machine-readable
catalog of books published in Japan and an index of periodical articles
on database. In addition to these and other databases compiled by the Library,
the Bureau makes heavy use of commercial databases both domestic and abroad.
They are, however, general in nature and not always suitable to information
and research services for the Diet. On the other hand, the Bureau and each
research division has its own library as mentioned earlier, and analysts
are regularly browsing newly acquired books, newspaper and periodical articles.
The Internet is also becoming a useful information source these days. Each
analyst used to keep his own information file using card, notebook, filing
cabinet, etc. The Information Sharing System is to provide researchers
with a common handy electronic device to keep their information files.
Analysts can input bibliographical information and text (if necessary and
if allowed by copyright law) of any article and other material which they
found useful in their work for the Diet - the material which they found
in the course of day-to-day browsing or research activities.
Analysts enter useful information on their own initiative
to prepare for their research. But by using a common electronic device
(not a personal card box or filing cabinet), the information is shared
among other staffers of the Bureau including those who handle quick reference
inquiries, and will become a valuable resource for future researchers.
The accumulation of information will in due course grow into a useful database
not of general character but oriented toward the Diet since the contents
are selected by analysts with a view to meeting the information needs of
the Members.
The Information Sharing System is combined with the
Tracking Request System. The articles and other materials used during research
or photocopied as answers and recorded in the latter system can easily
be copied to the former. A report which is prepared as an answer to a specific
request but can be generalized is also copied to the Information Sharing
System. The digital version of Issue Brief constitutes a separate file
but is linked with this system and can be retrieved from it.
Each datum is registered in a folder. Folders are
organized into several levels: the top folders are politics, public administration,
judicial affairs, foreign relations and national defense, finance, trade
and industry, agriculture, environment, land development, communications,
education and science, culture, welfare, labor, and so on, and the folders
in the second level, corresponding to top level folder "politics" for example,
are parliament, member of parliament, election, party, political finance,
constitution, and so on. One can browse information and documents through
the classification of folders, but can also make full text search by specific
term or keyword.
Each record in the Information Sharing System is
designated, upon registration, "shared within the research division," "shared
within the Bureau," or "shared within the Diet." The records of the third
category are open to access for the Members, their staff, and also House,
Committee and Legislative Bureau staff, as a menu of services offered through
the Bureau's internet homepage. The database will have the function of
a "digital library," from which the Members can obtain information directly.
The Total System for Research and Information Services
uses "Oracle Server 7.3.3" as its basic package software. Special application
softwares are developed by using "Power Builder." The full-text search
engine is "Oracle ConText Option." "PowerChute Plus," "ARCserve for WinNT"
and Oracle backup option enable preservation (backup) without halting the
database.
Needless to say, the Tracking Request System is a
closed system inside the Bureau. All of the functions of the system to
display, retrieve, create new records, and enter or modify records can
only be done by client PCs in which special application software for this
system is installed. The system has also a special device that keeps a
log record, for example "who made search by Member's name," to detect and
deter unauthorized use of the system.
Groupware such as Lotus Notes is not used for the
system. When a request is transmitted to a research division, the sender's
action to specify the destination is registered on the server and the server
is visited by client PCs periodically, using a timer. Approvers also rewrite
the record in the server in process of approval.
Two high grade servers are used as data server and
file/web server, while a relatively small server is used as a backup for
emergencies only.
(August, 1998)
* Chief, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Div., Research and
Legislative Reference Bureau, NDL
|
|
|