The 6th mutual visit program of the National Library of Korea (NLK) and the National Diet Library (NDL) was held in Seoul on September 10 and 11, 2002.  Headed by Mr. Hidehiko SAIRAIJI, Deputy Director General, Reference and Special Collections Department, this delegation had the following other members: Ms. Yoshiko ITO, Reference librarian, Humanities Division, Reference and Special Collections Department, and Ms. Akito OTSUKA, Planning and Cooperation Division, International Library of Children's Literature. For previous programs, please see here. 

The main theme was "Important projects and new developments in public service of Japanese and Korean national libraries." Both libraries were in the middle of preparing the basis of their new services.  The NDL was to open the new facility Kansai-kan in one month; while, in a faster movement toward digitization than Japan, the NLK was planning a new building intended for digital library service. 

The delegation also visited the National Assembly Library, Seoul National University Library, Kyujanggak Archives and national museums in Seoul and Kyondju. 
 

Outline of the presentations

The sessions of the first day were held in a hall in the NLK.  Staff of both libraries presented keynote speeches and reported on the main theme.  For a summary of each report, click on the title. 

Presentations from the NLK
 

Presentations from the NDL

Resemblance and difference between Japanese and Korean national library projects

Advanced technology to search materials (union catalog)
It is clear that a national library should put its effort in building a union catalog.  In Korea, a union catalog "KOLIS-NET" is available on the Internet and everyone has access to information on the holdings of nationwide public libraries.  The "National Union Catalog" operated by the NDL, on the other hand, though having increased participating libraries and becoming a national information infrastructure, is not available on the Internet at present.  We need to discuss how to make databases available to the public, including the contents to be provided.

Providing more full text information
The NLK has created a full text database consisting of more than 200,000 items of digitized academic literature.  For its part, the NDL provides digitized images of materials in the form of the Rare Books Image Database and the Digital Library from the Meiji Era.

The NLK staff commented that image is one of the efficient media to convey full text of the collection.  I felt that the NLK had the same background of language as the NDL.  It would require much cost and labor to input Japanese or Korean in precise old text form.  There are opinions that image is less used in the world, but we need further discussions on how to provide full text information, taking in consideration better search function and the international trend.

Advanced use of information on the Internet
NDL's Database Navigation Service (Dnavi) resembles the NLK's prospective service "Classification and provision of information on the web to facilitate search of the Internet." On the other hand, NDL's Web Archiving Project (WARP) drew much attention, perhaps because such a plan has not yet come into operation in Korea.

Increased convenience by digital requesting system
Subscribed NDL users have been able to request remote copying service on the Internet since January 2003, but such a service was already available at the NLK.  Both countries should continue to improve the environment for facilitating access to information.

Conclusion

The rapid digitization of the modern society has changed our basis of life, mind-set and style of information seeking.  This change demands a response that is far beyond the reach of conventional libraries.  Libraries are expected to respond actively but we have to avoid misjudgments.  I was surprised to find but understood that the NLK and the NDL had exactly the same, rather than similar, object, direction and attitude toward digitization. 

After the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan, there are many calls for bilateral understanding between Korea and Japan as neighbor countries in East Asia.  It shows the foresightedness of this program, which saw its 6th meeting this year.  At the same time, it is important for both libraries not only to learn from each other but also to maintain the sort of relationship within which we can exchange opinions whenever needed. 

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Mr. Shy Woo Lee (Director), Ms. Myung-Hee Kim, Ms. Soonhwa Lee and other staff of the Support and Cooperation Division of the NLK for their attentive and thoughtful arrangements.