The National Diet Library (NDL), provides Members of Parliament with legislative support services, together with the Secretariats and the Legislative Bureaus of both Houses.  The Research and Legislative Reference Bureau which I will call the Bureau from now on, is a department of the NDL which is in charge of research services for the Diet.  It has already achieved good results in applying new technology to its services and products.

I made a presentation titled “Challenges and opportunities to deliver research services to parliamentarians in the Japanese Diet” in the Section on Library and Research Services for Parliament, at the IFLA Conference in Boston 2001.  Ten years have passed and I would now like to review how the situation has changed or not.  I explained the topic using SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis in 2001, so I will make this presentation using the same method.

I mentioned four points as Strengths in 2001.  They were Collection, Timely and Appropriate Response, NDL Databases, and Status.  With regard to the collection and database, the situations have continued to strengthen.  The collection increased and the archiving of websites of governmental organizations began.  They serve as the major resource for the research activities.

The researchers of the Bureau are successfully answering inquiries from the Committees and Diet Members in the same manner as in 2001.

Only the status (salary) of the Librarian became low as a result of the streamlining of the Secretariats of both Houses in 2005.  This was a part of the Diet Reform discussion, and the number of the staff and their salaries became the target of criticism.

I mentioned three points as Weaknesses in 2001. They are Resource Constraint, Staff Recruitment and Turnover, and Physical Location.  Concerning the staff members, the situation is almost the same.  While the number of personnel in the Bureau increased from 160 to 190, the number of inquiries is increasing much more from 30,000 to over 40,000.  Frequent personnel changes are still going on, but the Bureau has formulated a career path model and is now trying to develop capable researchers.
Concerning the Physical Location, the situation is the same, but the Detached Library in the Diet building became part of the Bureau as a result of reorganizations of the NDL since 2007.  The Detached Library has been strengthening its function as the Diet Members’ information center and as the forefront of the Bureau.  The facility is used as the site of various events for Diet Members and their staff, including policy seminars.

I mentioned three points in 2001. They are Change and Reform, Commitment to Policy-making process, and Technology.  Concerning Change and Reform, the discussion of the Diet reform still continues, but is not so active as before.  Among the issues of the Diet reform, the downsizing of the staff and organizations has become a matter of priority because of the financial crisis in the 2000s.

With regard to commitment to the Policy-making Process, the number of Member-sponsored bills has maintained a certain percentage during 2000s, but deliberations in the Committees are inactive.  Only Technology has made remarkable progress since 2001.  The number of NDL Databases of Diet information has been increasing and more are open to the public.  The other legislative support organizations are also developing their databases and websites.  The problem is that each legislative support organization provides its information independently, not integrated with the others.

I mentioned two threats in 2001, that is, Beyond the Internet, and Downsizing and Competition.  Both threats are increasing more than before.  There has been a deluge of information through the Internet since the 2000s.  Researchers should not only catch up with its progress but need also to examine the quality and accuracy of information more seriously.

Downsizing pressure is still continuing and the number of the staff of the NDL has decreased from 940 to 890 in the five years since FY 2006.  Legislative support organizations of both Houses are developing their services independently in order to differentiate themselves.

In 2001, I concluded that the challenge for the Japanese Research Services is to maintain recognition of the value of their independent services and improve cooperation with other support services of the Diet to attain the necessary efficiency.  The challenge is still going on, but because of the downsizing threat, each legislative support organization seems to keep its advantages from the others, instead of them all walking in cooperation.

The Bureau adopted a new strategic plan for services in 2010.  Primary aims are as follows:
1)-To play the role of the brains for Diet Members as well as the information center for them,
2)-To connect the Diet to the public in cooperation with the Secretariats of both Houses and other research organizations,
3)-To acquire and develop researchers, and to prepare infrastructure that will enable 1) and 2) to be realized.

Among these aims, No.2 is a new strategy for us.  A Parliament is fundamental to democracy.  Through the enormous progress of technology in these past ten years, we can connect the parliament with the public more easily and directly.  In this situation, it is important for us to strengthen research services for Diet Members, and in addition to this, it is also important to let the public understand the Diet and its functions.  Connecting the Diet with the public might be one of the next themes of our research services.

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