No. 120, July 2001

National Diet Library's FY2001 Budget

The fiscal 2001 budget bill passed the National Diet on March 26, 2001. 
The total amount of the initial budget appropriated for NDL is 30,774,600,000 yen for FY2001 (April 2001 - March 2002). An increase of 2,135,700,000 yen (7.5%) over the FY2000 level is mainly attributed to the increase in the preparations for the opening of new facility "Kansai-kan" (tentative name, scheduled to open in 2002) and the International Library of Children's Literature (partially opened in May 2000 and to be fully open in 2002). 

The composition of the total budget is: 

• Salary and personnel expenses 33.0% (35.4% in FY2000) 
• Acquisition of library materials 5.0% (5.1%) 
• Development of information systems 12.0% (9.4%) 
• Office expenses 10.8% (8.1%) 
• Buildings and facilities 39.2% (41.1%) 

The following are major expenditures of the FY2001 budget: 

1. Kansai-kan Project 

Approximately 8.1 billion yen is appropriated for construction of new facility Kansai-kan (tentative name). The construction of the buildings will be finished in March 2002 so that we can start on-site preparation from April 2002 for the opening of the Kansai-kan in autumn. There is an appropriation of 3.8 hundred million yen for interior finish work and of 5.4 hundred million yen for preparations for the opening; 6.7 hundred million yen is for transportation of library materials on a two-year plan, of which 5 million yen is appropriated for the first year. 

2. Information systems 

Construction of the National Diet Library Basic Plan of the Electronic Library Infrastructure System has an appropriation of 2.3 billion yen. This system will link the Tokyo main library, the Kansai-kan and the International Library of Children's Literature as an integrated unity. The expenses for this system have been authorized since FY 1998. 

3. International Library of Children's Literature 

Renovation of library building, built in the Meiji period, has an appropriation of 2.6 hundred million yen. The renovation will be finished in January 2002. The full opening is set for May 2002 and expenses for preparations are also appropriated. 

4. Services for the Diet 

The project of constructing a full-text database of the minutes of the Diet, being developed in collaboration with the Secretariats of both Houses and in effect since FY1996, is in its second year, Phase 2. To provide a variety of information to Diet members, expenses for using commercial databases are also authorized. 

5. Acquisition of library materials 

Expenses for purchasing electronic publications and materials related to science and technology increased. Expenses for purchasing materials for the Kansai-kan and the International Library of Children's Literature are also appropriated.