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Top > Publications > NDL　Newsletter > Back Numbers 2004 > No. 138, August 2004

National Diet Library Newsletter

No. 138, August 2004
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NDL Vision 2004 and

the Digital Library Medium Term Plan

The NDL recently released two important documents: NDL Vision 2004, and the National Diet Library Digital Library Medium Term Plan. They will be guidelines for our organization in the years to come. 

NDL Vision 2004

The NDL worked out its "NDL Vision 2004" in January 2004, which confirms its mission and roles, and clarifies four priority areas as follows: 

 Mission and Roles

The National Diet Library plays the following roles based on "the firm conviction that truth makes us free and with the object of contributing to international peace and the democratization of Japan as promised in our Constitution" (Preamble of the National Diet Library Law) :

  • Collects products of the intellectual activities of Japanese people on a broad scale, from printed materials to digital information, and constructs information resources as the common property of the people of Japan.
  • Assists the legislative activities of the Diet by providing research and analysis services, and information on national political issues.
  • Provides library services and guarantees access to information resources from now into the future to the executive and judicial branch and to the people of Japan.
 Priority Areas
  1. Enhancement of legislative support function: to raise the level of research services for the Diet.
  2. Creation of digital archives: to store and provide national heritage as digital information. 
  3. Improvement of access to information resources: to guarantee free and equal access to the public.
  4. Promotion of cooperation: to strengthen ties with domestic and overseas libraries and related institutions so as to promote sharing and distribution of information resources; to foster library professionals and contribute to developing library and information services.

To give substance to the Vision, the NDL introduced an evaluation system this fiscal year. With emphasis on the four priority areas, the organization as a whole and all the departments set their own objectives and service standards, then developed operational plans to achieve them. The performance will be reviewed periodically, and the objectives for the next fiscal year will be redefined based on the achievements of the previous year. The results of the evaluation will be published in the annual report and on the NDL website.

For more information on the Vision and the new evaluation system, please refer to: NDL Vision

National Diet Library Digital Library Medium Term Plan 2004

To give concrete shape to one of the above-mentioned priority areas "Creation of digital archives," the NDL formulated the NDL Digital Library Medium Term Plan 2004 in February 2004.

The plan specifies the objectives of the NDL digital library services as follows:

 Objectives of Digital Library Service
  1. Creation of digital archives
  2. Expansion of information on information resources
  3. Digital archive portal functions 

The NDL is now developing technical, legal and systematic frameworks to put the plan into action. 

For more information on the Plan, please refer to: Electronic Library Projects
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