No. 117, January 2001

20th Mutual Visit Program between NDL and NLC

A National Library of China (NLC) delegation led by the Deputy Director Ms. Sun Beixin visited Japan from 13 to 22 November 2000 on the 20th mutual visit program between the NDL and the NLC. The program started in 1981 to exchange opinions on issues of mutual concern and to further strengthen mutual understanding and friendly relations. The members of the delegation included Mr. Wang Dongbo, Director of Operational Division, Ms. Guo Mingyue, Director of Planning and Finance Division, Ms. Li Shuguo, Research Librarian, Collection Management and Reader Service, and Mr. Wang Zhigeng of Newspapers & Periodicals Department. The main themes of the program was "Roles of national libraries towards the new century" with sub-themes "Sharing of library information resources" and "Digital library construction". 

Opening session

t the opening session, Ms. Beixin delivered a keynote speech under the title "The National Library of China Towards the New Century" followed by a speech by Mr. Ujigo, Director, Administrative Department, NDL "The National Diet Library Towards the New Century". 
In the question period, enhancement of services to organizations of the central government and national legislative bodies, staff training and further education, reorganization and details of the legal deposit system were discussed. 

Section Meeting I - Sharing library information resources

At the meeting, Mr. Wang from NLC and Ms. Kodama, senior librarian, Library Cooperation Department, NDL, reported on recent developments on the theme. 

In 1997, the NLC established the Online Library Cataloging Center to organize computer cataloging nationwide, to manage a union catalog on the network and to promote the sharing of bibliographical records and document resources. Although in the Chinese system, cooperation among libraries of different types was not frequent, the NLC promotes resources sharing with university libraries, research instituion libraries and government organizations. In order to share data resources, the NLC has worked out a series of  standards for bibliographic data and held a seminar on the theme. Besides these, the NLC cooperates in international resources sharing of Chinese materials with specialists from Taiwan, Singapore and the United States. 

In Japan, the NDL developed online union catalogs such as the national union catalog of major public libraries in Japan, the union catalog database of children's books in Japan, and the union catalog database of newspapers in Japan (in experimental stage). As the nation's central library, the NDL builds and maintains a databases of the bibliographical data collected from participating libraries, and provides them through information network. 
For example, the NDL has operated the National Union Catalog Network of major public libraries in Japan since 1998. As the purpose of the system is not to cooperate in cataloging but to support interlibrary loans nationwide, participating libraries are able to complete the interlibrary loan process from searching bibliographic data through sending a loan request via e-mail on the system. The union catalog is able to play an important role as the foundation of library cooperation in the age of information networks, in addition to providing bibliographic information on the library resources of the country, one of the NDL's mandates prescribed in the Law. 

Section Meeting II - Digital library construction

In the second section meeting, Ms. Li from NLC and Ms. Nakai, Head, Digital Library Promotion Office, reported on digital library projects in China and Japan. The schedule of project development in both countries is similar. The NLC started a pilot digital library project in 1996, the NDL started one in 1996. In 1997, the Chinese Pilot Digital Library Project started and the NDL formulated the Electronic Library Concept. In 1999, the NLC established the Center of Document Digitization, the NDL established the Digital Library Promotion Office. 

The Chinese government is supporting the construction of a network on Chinese information, the "China Digital Library", which will be centered in the NLC and connected with libraries nationwide. For the purpose, the NLC developed the pilot demonstration system for the China Digital Library in 1999, built the NLC LAN with 1GB lines, connected with outside networks, and digitized its library collections. The NLC's digitization program includes bibliographic database construction, digital scanning of the printed collection, digitization of the microform collection and digitization of the rare books collection. The national project will be concluded in the construction of the Chinese multimedia digital archive, improvement in the infrastracture for the digital library, application system development, establishment and distribution of standards and regulations, and improvement in the quality of professional staff members. The project will continue to the year 2005. 

In Japan, the legal deposit system was amended in April 2000. Consequently, packaged electronic publications have been included in publications to be deposited and online electronic publications to be acquired selectively since October 2000. Of online publications, the NDL will select government and academic publications. 
As for digitization, the NDL will convert microfilms of the 168,000 Japanese books published in 1868-1912 into image files, with a retrieval system linked with a bibliographic database. However, only 30-50% books are copyright free and the NDL plans to clear the copyright by requesting a decision by the Director-General of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The data will be available in 2002. 

In question and answer time, the participants eagerly discussed issues such as acquisition of online digital resources, copyright clearance, library budget for digitization, technical problems, etc. Although many users request digitized current information, many libraries all over the world are incline to digitize old materials because copyright clearance is easy. To solve this dilemma and provide current information through the internet in the future, the NLC is taking concrete measures such as contacting the copyright holder of every item, consulting with national legislative bodies about new legislation, and depositing a great amount of money with the Chinese copyright management institution. 

Conclusion

At the 18th program in May 1999, NDL and NLC agreed on the Letter of Intent concerning Exchange and Cooperation between the National Diet Library and the National Library of China. The NDL has already started to purchase Chinese materials by the assistance of the NLC based on the Letter. At this time both libraries talked over the letter and agreed on further concrete cooperation. 

From the next day, the delegation visited the Kansai-kan (provisional name), a new facility of the NDL, and other institutions in the Kansai region of Japan, and left Japan on November 22. The 21st program will be held at the NLC in 2001.