Today, a huge amount of information is produced under the Internet environment and the meaning of libraries as information providing agencies is reconsidered.  In these circumstances, the National Diet Library intends to fulfill its role by providing its collection actively and being useful for research and study. 

Here we would like to introduce the reorganization of the special materials rooms in the Tokyo Main Library from fiscal year 2002 to 2004, in conjunction with the opening of the Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library. 

1. Reorganizing policy
2. Clarification of subject areas and the new way of grouping them
3. Reorganization from the point of view of collection groups
4. Materials related to Asia in the Tokyo Main Library
5. From "Special materials room" to "Special resources room"
 
 

1. Reorganizing policy

We applied the following policies in reorganizing the special materials rooms: 
 

• Clarify subject areas, enhance specialization in subjects and respond to the users' diversified and advanced demands.
• Combine related areas and make the layout of the rooms easy to understand.
• Consolidate digital environment in special materials rooms and provide not only the Library's collection but also external information resources.
• The special materials rooms which have unique collections will manage the whole process of acquisition, custody and provision.  They will improve their collections and enhance reference services.

2. Clarification of subject areas and the new way of grouping them

We decided how to categorize subject areas considering the trends of users, new distribution of holdings following the opening of the Kansai-kan, and building conditions. 

The Reference Books Room used to contain all reference books except science, technology and Asian related materials, and more than half of the visitors to the NDL used to visit it.  However, storage space for open-access materials was becoming scarce. 

Since most of our collections are in the closed stacks, there is a strong demand for us to develop open-access collections to meet the need for research.  By clarifying subject areas and the concepts of each special materials room, we aimed to upgrade specialization in subjects and improve our services. 

As a result, we grouped subjects into three areas, namely, law and politics, business, science and technology, and humanities, thus organizing three rooms, that is, the Law, Politics and Official Publications Room, the Business, Science and Technology Room and the Humanities Room.

The Law, Politics and Official Publications Room opened in April 2002.  Reference books on law and politics, publication catalogues, directories, annual reports, statistics, microfilms of Japanese and foreign government offices and publications of international organizations are available here.  As well as providing research services for the Diet, it will enhance reference and other services for the general public.  After the remodeling of the Main Library is completed, this room will merge with the Statutes and Parliamentary Documents Room to form the Parliamentary Documents and Official Publications Room.

The Business, Science and Technology Room will improve its collection of abstracts, indexes and databases to facilitate access to science and technology materials that are located in the Kansai-kan.  The open-access materials on economy and society, which were previously held in the Reference Books Room, were handed over to this room.  It will strive to improve information supply in the fields of economy, society and interdisciplinary fields such as health, food and environment.

The Humanities Room holds reference books on humanities, library and information science, interdisciplinary and general fields (classified as "generalities" in the library catalog).  Encyclopedias and other basic reference books that are much in demand continue to be provided in this room.  To make it useful to users, it aims at flexible management.  For example, it continues to have a corner for biographical information.
 

3. Reorganization from the point of view of collection groups

While reorganizing special materials rooms according to subject areas, we did not change much in the structure of special materials rooms that hold unique collections in the NDL.  It is because we thought that considering the nature of the materials, it would be more useful for users if selection, processing, custody, provision and reference were done in one room. 

The table below shows the structure of such special materials rooms.
 

While improving their collections, special materials rooms will put more effort to provide information on their use and collection.  It is necessary to disclose our databases and reveal the whole picture of our collection.  One very important issue now is consolidating the data to improve access to the collection.  We are also digitizing rare books and other materials to enhance our electronic library services.
 

4. Materials related to Asia in the Tokyo Main Library

The Asian Resources Room will be established in the Kansai-kan that will open in October 2002, which aims to contribute to the circulation of information on Asia.

In the Tokyo Main Library, following the closing of the Asian Materials Room, each special materials room took on responsibilities for reference services on Asia.  Frequently used Japanese and Western reference books formerly held in the Asian Materials Room are shelved in related special materials rooms. 

Books (acquired in and after 1986), magazines and newspapers in Asian languages will be located in the Kansai-kan, but the Tokyo Main Library will have duplicate copies of Asian language materials that are much in demand.  Continuing effort will be made to develop Asian language materials in high demand.

Copying service and inter-site request of materials held by the Kansai-kan will be available.

5. From "Special materials room" to "Special resources room"

The opening of the OPAC to the public made access to our collection easier.  It is expected that the special materials rooms will enhance their information service not by only our own collection but also by useful external information resources.

As the renaming of some special materials rooms from "Materials room" to "Resources room" shows, special materials rooms in the reorganized structure will try to strengthen their information providing function.