This is based on the article of the same title in
the NDL Monthly Bulletin No. 557 (August 2007)

International exchange of publications is now in the era of reform. With the development of information and communications technology (ICT) in recent years, not only the latest issues of the government publications of each country but also past publications have been digitized, and the number delivered and available via the Internet is increasing year after year. This makes us aware that now is the time when the accumulated government information is opened to public using ICT. It is hard to say, however, that digitization has been equally developing in every country. The reality is that the development level differs among countries and regions.

Aiming to adapt to the times in order to make the exchange of publications efficient and reasonable, the Acquisitions Department of the National Diet Library (NDL) has been discussing review and restructuring of the international exchange from FY2004 to FY2006. In this article, the outline of the international exchange in the NDL and the result of the review and restructuring are introduced.

The NDL started the international exchange of publications at the time of its foundation in 1948, and the “NDL guideline for the international exchange of government publications” was formulated in 1959. The work has been supported externally on the following basis since the 1948 when the NDL Law went into effect: bilateral agreements on exchange of official publications with the USA (1956), Belgium (1958), France (1980) and the Soviet Union (1987); and during this period, two UNESCO conventions came into effect in Japan: the Convention concerning the International Exchange of Publications (in 1984) and the Convention concerning the Exchange of Official Publications and Government Documents between States (in 1984). These conventions proclaim the significance of the international exchange of publications by declaring in their preambles that the international exchange is “essential to the free exchange of ideas and knowledge among the peoples of the world.” In each country, institutions designated for this purpose have principally carried out the exchange.

The international exchange of publications by the NDL is classified into three categories: blanket, specified and selective exchanges. In blanket exchange, major official publications are inclusively exchanged, based in principle on intergovernmental agreements. Specified exchange is a method for exchanging official publications specified under intergovernmental agreements or those between the parties. In selective exchange, selected publications, not limited to official publications, are to be exchanged based on the agreements between the parties. The NDL currently exchanges publications with 6 institutions in the framework of blanket exchange, 5 institutions for specified exchange, 952 for selective exchange.

The noteworthy materials among those acquired through international exchange include statutes, parliamentary documents and official publications of foreign countries, and materials relating to Japan.

Statutes, parliamentary documents and official publications of foreign countries are core materials for the NDL’s function of legislative research. Most of the collection in this genre of publication from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia and Belgium has been acquired through international exchange. Among commercial publications of the countries and regions where it is difficult to purchase them through a normal channel, materials relating to Japan are acquired by exchanging the “national literature” (documents relating to one country) to construct a precious collection. The NDL is operating the exchange of the “national literature” with 11 national libraries mainly in North and Central Europe and in Korea.

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In FY2004, the Acquisitions Department conducted an actual condition survey on acquisition of materials through international exchange. This survey was chiefly for quantitative evaluation including the number of publications NDL sent to its counterparts and vice versa. The results show that the percentage of books acquired through international exchange in the total number of acquisitions has been decreasing gradually and that of periodicals has also been decreasing (see the chart), although the numbers of both books and periodicals acquired through international exchange have been relatively stable. In FY2003, the most recent year surveyed, 22% of foreign books and 28% of foreign periodicals were acquired through international exchange, which explains its importance in the NDL’s material acquisition.

In FY2006, the Library Support Division of the Kansai-kan conducted a survey on collection evaluation, which introduced the questionnaire results from national and university libraries in foreign countries showing that 16 libraries out of 18 that answered had some kind of cooperation framework for the international exchange. Among national libraries, 10 of the 12 made use of the international exchange. The survey report introduces an example of collection evaluation in the National Library of the Czech Republic, which constructs its collection mainly through international exchange and donations occupying 75.4% of the total number of acquisition of foreign books; 48.2% acquired through the exchange and 27.2% by donations. This figure shows that institutions with a small budget for purchase of materials are still actively conducting international exchange for the sake of acquisition.

To be continued in the next issue (No.158).

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