I. Collection development and provision of bibliographic information

(1) Collections
The NDL collects various materials published inside and outside Japan. 

<Table 1> Materials held by the NDL

Books  (volumes)

Serials  (titles)                              *numbers in parentheses are non-book-form materials

Non-book materials

(2) Acquisition
The National Diet Library collects materials by purchase, legal deposit (from the national or local government and private publishers), donation (from individuals and groups inside and outside the country) and exchange (with foreign government and international organizations).

Number of materials newly accessioned in FY2003 

The number of visual materials shows a visible increase in the last five years: about nine times for video discs and four times for video cassettes. This chart shows an increase in accessions of books and offline electronic publications which have been included in the legal deposit system since October 2000.

<Chart 1> Increase in accessions of books and electronic publications FY1999-2003

                   *The number of materials accessioned in FY1999 is set at 100 in the chart

In the case of electronic journals, the NDL provided about 10,000 titles as of the end of FY2003, made available through nine subscription contracts with foreign providers. 

(3)  Collection of the digital library
The NDL is developing the digital library where digital materials are available directly from the NDL website: Web Archiving Project (WARP), available since November 2002, Digital Library from the Meiji Era, October 2002, and Rare Books Image Database, March 2000.

WARP                                                                                                                                  

as of the end of FY2003

Digital Library of from the Meiji Era                                                                                   as of the end of FY2003

Rare Books Image Database                                                                                                as of the end of FY2003 

(4)  Provision of bibliographic information
The NDL compiles and publishes the Japanese National Bibliography, which is provided both in paper form and online (Japanese only). NDL-OPAC, the online catalog system which enables cross searching for books, serials, and articles of Japanese periodicals, is also available on the Internet. In FY2003, bibliographic data of maps and audiovisual materials were added to the NDL-OPAC. 

<Table 2> NDL-OPAC coverage                                             (records)

II. Services for the National Diet

The NDL provides legislative research services and library services for the National Diet members and others connected with the Diet. 

(1) Legislative research service
The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau of the NDL conducts research on politics, economy, and social affairs inside and outside Japan using the NDL collections and databases. The total number of researches conducted by the Research and Legislative Reference Bureau in FY2003 was 26,900. Among them, researches conducted for the Diet members and Diet-related people are shown in <Table 3>.

 <Table 3> Legislative research conducted for the Diet members and other Diet-related people 

<Electronic information service for the National Diet>
 "Chosa-no-Mado," an NDL portal site for the National Diet, had more than 1,320 kinds of content as of the end of FY2003. 

Accesses to the Full-text Database System for the Minutes of the Diet, which covers proceedings from the first National Diet session in 1946, amounted to 523,002 (122,926 increase from the previous year), including accesses both via the National Diet WAN and via the NDL website. 
 

(2) Library service
The Detached Library in the Diet (DLID) is a small but front-line library of the services to the National Diet, located on the fourth floor of the Diet building inside the tower. 55,000 books including parliamentary proceedings and U.S. codes, and about 600 titles of serials are available there. In FY2003, the DLID Information System, which provides loan service using a library card and search service (the DLID-OPAC), was launched and the number of visitors and circulation has increased.
   <Table 4> shows the library service provided at the DLID.
 

<Table 4> DLID Library services

III. Services for the general public

Services for the general public are offered in the Tokyo Main Library, Kansai-kan, International Library of Children's Literature and Toyo Bunko. These facilities offer services for both remote and on-site users.
.
(1) Services for remote users

  -Interlibrary loan

The NDL lent out 14,175 materials to 3,167 institutions and libraries including 133 new member institutions and libraries in FY2003.
It has been possible to make a request via NDL-OPAC since October 2002 in addition to postal mail, fax and through the NDL-ILL system. The number of requests via NDL-OPAC was 2,533 (19 % of all the requests) in FY2002 and 7,611 (51 %) in FY2003.

<Chart 2> Number of materials lent out in FY2003

  -Reference services

Remote reference services are available by phone, letter, fax, or e-mail. In FY2003, there were 7,979 written (letter, fax, or e-mail) requests, 808 fewer than the previous year. This decrease may be because the NDL-OPAC has been available on the Internet since October 2002, as inquiries about holding information decreased by 606. 80% (6,416) of written requests were from libraries inside the country. The number of reference requests received by phone was 55,704, 95% (52,787) of which were from individual users.

Reference service by e-mail has been available to registered libraries in Japan and overseas users since October 2002. There were 673 requests by e-mail from registered libraries in Japan (22% of all the requests, 517 increase from the previous year) and 91 requests from overseas users (79%, 70 increase).

  -Copying service for remote users

We received 110,199 requests for copying service (211,211 articles) in FY2003 (40,617 requests, 106,835 articles in the previous year). In FY 2002, we started receiving requests via NDL-OPAC. The number of requests via NDL-OPAC comprised 63% of all the requests in FY2003 (23% in the previous year).

<Chart 3> Requests for copying service from libraries and remote users (number of articles requested)

 

(2) On-site services
On-site services include reader service, copying service, and in-person reference service.

<Basic Data>
Tokyo Main Library

Kansai-kan

We started a user registration system in FY2003. Since then, 4,400 libraries and 33,600 individuals have registered.

 <Services in Special Materials Rooms>
Reorganization of Special Materials Rooms was completed with the establishment of the Parliamentary Documents and Official Publications Room. Statistics are shown in <Table 5>.

<Table 5> Special Materials Room statistics

*includes the number for Electronic Resources Room 2 (integrated into the Electronic Resources Room in December 2003)

<Copying service>
Total requests for copying

<Reference service>
In-person reference service for visitors

<Chart 4> Transition in the number of visitors and requests for copying (in the last ten years)

 

(3) Services of the International Library of Children's Literature (ILCL)
<Table 6> shows FY2003 statistics of the ILCL, a branch library of the NDL providing library services for children's literature and related materials.

<Table 6> ILCL Statistics (fully opened in May 2002)