No. 114, June 2000

New Web-OPAC: NDL Catalog through the Internet

In March 2000, the NDL started to provide an online catalog of about 2,000,000 Japanese books and 200,000 foreign books in western languages using the World Wide Web at http://webopac2.ndl.go.jp/index.html

The new Web-OPAC covers Japanese books received by the Library from 1948 and foreign books from 1986. As the NDL is the sole depository library in Japan, its collection of Japanese books is the most comprehensive in the country. The database also includes more than 20,000 books on Japan published abroad in various languages.

For users abroad, the Library has prepared a search screen also in English, in which not only Japanese characters but also Roman characters are available for searching the database. However, you need Japanese capability in your computer to display the search result in Japanese.

The books listed in the catalog are available through the NDL international photoduplication and loan services.

How to search

Function Setting

Click "Option" to set up the various functions. Some functions can be set up on the search screen.

* Select the database

Select the database of Japanese books or foreign books or both by checking the box left to the name of the database.

* How to search Japanese books with Roman characters

When you search Japanese books using Roman characters, check the "Romaji" box on the search screen or click "Option" and select "Convert" on the bottom column. Either Kunrei or Hepburn romanization can be used. The system automatically converts the search word(s) from Roman characters to Japanese Kana characters when searching.

* Boolean search

You can link search conditions between multiple search items or between search words for the same item.

To link search words for the multiple search items, use the box left below.

To link search words for the same search item, separate the words with a space, and select "And" or "Or" in the box right to each item

* Sort

It is possible to sort search results by title, author and publication year.

When you select "Ascending", the results are displayed in alphabetical order (from A to Z in English, from A to N in Japanese) by title or author, and with the most recent publication date first and the earliest date last. Select "Decending" to display in reverse order.

Searching Overview

Enter search words in the box provided on the screen, then select the [Search] button to conduct the search. Clear the search text from the box at any time by selecting the [Clear] button.

Search items

* Title word

Searches for books that include the entered search word in their title.

The Kana readings of the title, author and publisher of Japanese books are specified with spaces between words in accordance with a fixed rule. If more than one reading is possible, only the single most suitable reading is used. As a result, if the reading specified when searching is different from the reading used in the index, matches in the database may be missed in the search results. If you are unable to find a book you are searching for, please try again using a different kana reading or different item.

- Example: toukyou or amerika

* Complete title

Use this search when the full title of the work is known. This results in a forward match search. Appending / after the search word performes an exact match search.

- Example:nihonnorekisi or japanesehistory/

* Author

Searches by full name, first name, or last name. When you search by full name enter the name in reverse order.

- Example: natsume,soseki or shakespeare,william or dmitrii

* Publisher

- Example: kodansha or koudansha

* Year of Publication

- Example: 1986

* Subject

You can search the database by subject word in the "NDL Subject Headings". The List is available only in Japanese. 
- Example: ukiyoe or densikeisanki

For foreign books, approximately 100,000 bibliographic data mainly in English out of 200,000 data are searchable also with LC (Library of Congress) Subject Headings, because they are copy-cataloged from the LC Catalog.

- Example: Color prints, Japanese Edo period, 1600-1868

* NDL/NDLC

Searches by NDC (Nihon Decimal Classification) or NDLC (National Diet Library Classification)

* ISBN

Searches by the ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Only exact match searching can be used.

- Example: 4-87582-286-3 or 4875822863

Search results

When the search finds matching data, the list of summary with title, volume, author, publisher, and publishing year is displayed. To go to the full record, click on the name of the book. This screen provides more detail than the list of summary. The NDL call number of the item is shown at the bottom of the record. This number should be used when completing call slips within the NDL, or when requesting the item on interlibrary loan. If no matching data is found, a warning message appears.

Maximum number of items displayed is 200.