No. 109, June 1999

Symposium

"Dissemination and management of government information"
in commemoration of
the 50th anniversary of the Branch Library System

Branch Library System

The NDL's Branch Library System is unique in the world. 
The Branch libraries are located in the government offices and the Supreme Court, and are under the dual administration of the NDL and the hosting agencies. They collect materials, conduct interlibrary loans, offer research services to patrons in cooperation with the Main Library and collect government publications for themselves and the NDL. The total number of users of the branch libraries amounted to 734,365 in FY1997. 

Commemorative Symposium

The system started in August 1948 with eighteen libraries, and the year 1998 was its 50th anniversary. The NDL held a commemorative symposium on November 27, 1998, on the Theme "Dissemination and management of government information". Three information specialists spoke before a capacity crowd in the lecture hall. 

We invited Mr. Francis J. Buckley Jr., Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO) from the United States as a panelist. The GPO has produced and distributed Federal Government information products for over 130 years. He described the U.S. system for producing, procuring, and disseminating government information products and examined the GPO's mission in the electronic information age. 
Until recently, electronic information products were not required to be included in the GPO Programme. However, the "GPO Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act" was passed in 1993, and based on this Act, the GPO created its Homepage "GPO Access" (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs) to provide access to electronic Government information products. A total of over 132,000 electronic publications are now accessible through "GPO Access". 
He recognized that with the transition to electronics, the responsibility for current and future access to government information products is shifting from the GPO to the government agencies. Still, he concluded, the GPO is committed to providing access to as complete a collection as possible of public tangible and electronic government information products via the Federal Depository Library Programme, the GPO Sales Program and GPO Access. 

Mr.Hideru Momozaki, Director-General of the Institute of Administrative Information Systems and former Vice-Director-General of the Management and Coordination Agency, introduced the current status and future plans for dissemination of electronic information in administration. 
The Information Disclosure Bill (passed after the Symposium in April 1999), covering both paper and electronic information, requires government ministries/agencies to manage administrative documents appropriately. Based on the "Basic Plan for Promoting Administrative Information (revised in 1997)", the Government is now preparing guidelines for the establishment of a total document management system (preparation, processing, storage, destruction, etc.) and for the construction of a bibliographical and full-text database of administrative documents. 
He also stressed that this information infrastructure should also be used to improve services to citizens. 

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Dr. Kotaro Nawa, Professor, Kansai University, talked about information disclosure and commercialization of administrative information in electronic format. 
The Japanese government disseminates tangible administrative information to the public through various channels, for example information disclosure, sales programmes, and deposits to the NDL. He discussed cooperation and rivalry among administrative branch, libraries, and private sector after an electronic transition. How to add value to government information will be a prime issue. 
He also examined the problems facing the NDL in the information age. They include copyright of government information, information storage, deposit system, and access fees. 

The proceedings (text in Japanese except the report of Mr. Buckley) are edited by the National Diet Library, and published by the Japan Library Association. 
"Seifu joho no ryutsu to kanri", 1999.5, 107p, ISBN 4-87582-550-1 

For further information, write to: Japan Library Association 
1-11-14 Shinkawa, Tokyo, 104-0033, JAPAN 
Fax: +81-3-3523-0842 

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