On December 9, 2004, the 12th meeting of the Legal Deposit System Council, an advisory panel of outside experts (Chairperson: Shinkichi Eto, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo) was held at the National Diet Library (NDL), and the report of the Council, The Optimal Acquisition System for "Networked" Elecronic Publications, was agreed upon and then submitted to Mr.Takao Kurosawa, the Librarian of the NDL.

1. Background of the 2004 Report

(1) From 1999 Report to the Consultation in 2004 

In February 1999 the Legal Deposit System Research Council (predecessor of the Legal Deposit System Council) submitted a report which proposed that the NDL should include so-called "packaged" electronic publications in the legal deposit system. The 1999 report, however, suggested that for the time being, the legal deposit system would not apply to "networked" electronic publications, such as those transmitted and received over a communications network, and that the NDL should acquire needed and useful publications positively and selectively by contract.

Accordingly the National Diet Library Law was amended in April 2000 so that the NDL could include "packaged" electronic publications in its legal deposit system. The amendment came into effect in October 2000. The NDL also started a project of collecting websites selectively in July 2002. At the same time, the NDL decided that it was important to look for an institutional way based on legislation to collect information on the Internet and so-called "born-digital" information which has been increasing exponentially. For that purpose, in March 2002 the NDL consulted the Legal Deposit System Council to seek their views on the following question put by the Librarian:

Should "networked" electronic publications issued within the country be incorporated into the legal deposit system?  If not, what coverage of acquision  should be applied for them, and by what means should they be collected? 

 

(2) Deliberation of the Council

In order to answer the question put by the NDL, the Council set up two subcommittees: Subcommittee on "Networked" Electronic Publications (Subcommittee 1, Chairperson: Shumpei Kumon, Professor of Tama University) to report on the matter of whether "networked" publications should be incorporated into the legal deposit system; and Subcommittee on Acquisition of "Networked" Electronic Publications (Subcommittee 2, Chairperson: Shumpei Kumon) to report on the latter part of the question.

Subcommittee 1 reported to the Council in March 2003 its conclusion that "networked" electronic publications should not be incorporated into the legal deposit system.  Subcommittee 2 reported to the Council its final conclusion in December 2004. The reports from the two subcommittees were incorporated into one report, which was approved by the Council and then submitted to the Librarian of the NDL.

2. Brief Overview of the Report

(1) Incorporation of "Networked" Electronic Publications into the Legal Deposit System

Firstly the report made it clear, following the conclusion of the Legal Deposit System Research Council, that incorporation of networked electronic publications into the legal deposit system is not appropriate in light of the fundamental principles of the legal deposit system -- publications must be sent to the Library; completeness of coverage; and imposing obligatory deposit of their publications on publishers -- and the characteristics of networked electronic publications. 

(2) Framework of the Proposed New System

Upon the conclusion mentioned above, the Council suggested another system of collecting networked electronic publications:  its coverage and means of acquisitions, and ways to look at issues relating to copyright and compensation. 

• Coverage of acquisition: the NDL should collect all the networked electronic publications that are deemed useful for assisting the legislative activities of the Diet members and should not make a selection based on the content.

• Means of acqusition: the NDL should collect publications by means of reproduction by the NDL or submission from publishers as long as publishers do not refuse to have their publications harvested and stored by the NDL during a certain period of time after advance public notice in order to avoid a chilling effect on free and open speech.*
• Copyright issues: to make the acquisition of networked electronic publications by the Library possible, it is essential to limit by legislation the right of reproduction. Once networked electronic publications are acquired by the Library to be provided for the public, it may also be necessary to limit the right of reproduction and right of public transmission in many cases. 

• Compensation: compensation defined in the Constitution (Article 29 Clause 3) is not necessary as long as the use of the networked electronic publications collected by the Library is limited to the same manner as paper-medium publications, i.e., reading in the Library and having printouts made. In the case of networked electronic publications provided free on the Internet, no financial loss is incurred. 

*It was pointed out in the 1999 Report that publishers of networked electronic publications may not assume that their publications will be harvested and provided for the public by the government and that the NDL's acqusition may repress the publishers' motivation to freely express and publish their ideas. 

(3)Future Issues

The 2004 Report concludes that the new system for acquisition of networked electronic publications should be implemented in incremental steps at the discretion of the Library based on the framework proposed in the report while considering the issue of free speech on the Internet and securing necessary resources. Also it says that preservation technology should be improved to ensure long-term access to networked electronic publications.

The full-text of the report in Japanese can be read on the NDL website: http://www.ndl.go.jp/jp/aboutus/deposit_council_book.html 

Having received the 2004 Report from the Legal Deposit System Council, the NDL set up the Task Force on Promotion of Legislation for the Web Archive (Chairperson: General Director, Administrative Department) in January 2005 to discuss the related matters. As the first step, the Task Force put out a report titled "Basic Principles on Legislation for Acquisition and Provision of Internet Information Resources."  This report was submitted to the 13th meeting of the Legal Deposit System Council held in March 31, 2005 for their comment. The NDL also had a two-week period in April to hear comments on this report from the public including various stakeholders. The result of this public hearing was made public on the NDL website on June 17, 2005.

For more information on the Legal Deposit System Council and its reports, please contact:

Acquisition Administration Division,  Acquisitions Department

fax: +81-3-3592-0783