National Diet Library Newsletter
No. 190, August 2013
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The English version of the Digital Library from the Meiji Era and the NDL Digitized Contents are released
On May 30, 2013, NDL released the English version of the Digital Library from the Meiji Era and the NDL Digitized Contents. With buttons and help in English, beginners of Japanese will find it easier to use NDL digitized materials. The English version databases have the same function and contents with the Japanese version.
About the Digital Library from the Meiji Era
<<English interface of the Digital Library from the Meiji Era>>
The database was released in 2002 to make available digital images of Japanese books published in 1868 or later during the Meiji Era (1868-1912). It is widely accessed by users in Japan and around the world.
All the materials included in the database are available on the Internet. Those materials have been confirmed to be copyright-expired, to be used with permission of the copyright holder, or in cases where the copyright holder could not be contacted, to have been issued a compulsory license by the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
In May 2012, the database was integrated with the NDL Digitized Contents. It continues to offer services for searches and viewes to books and magazines which are available on the Internet, while the new integrated database covers all the digital contents including those available only on the NDL premises.
About the NDL Digitized Contents
<<English interface of the NDL Digitized Contents>>
The integrated database, NDL Digitized Contents, allows crossover searching and viewing of a wide variety of digitized materials.
Earlier NDL databases such as the Rare Books Image Database (2000-2011), the Digital Library of Children's Literature (2003-2011), and the Digital Library from the Meiji Era (2002- ) have been integrated into this system. In addition, digital contents created under the NDL’s Mass Digitization Project from FY2009 to FY2011 are included.
The following materials are available as of July 2013.
Digital images of NDL collection
Digitization of materials is an ongoing process at the NDL. Those materials that have yet to be digitized are not included in the database.
Digital images and digital recordings of materials held by other institutions
- Materials on the Allied Occupation of Japan: Original materials are owned by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
- Prange Collection: Original materials are owned by the University of Maryland, U.S.
- Historical Recordings Collection: Sound recordings digitized from 78-rpm records and other sources held by Japanese record companies
- Newspapers: Extra editions of Ishinomaki Hibi Shimbun posted on walls of evacuation centers after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Made available with the cooperation of the Ishinomaki Newspaper Publishing Company
In total, 2,250,000 digital materials are available, of which, images of about 470,000 materials for which copyright clearance has been completed are available on the Internet.
Availability of digital contents in round numbers (as of the end of June, 2013) (volumes)
| Kinds of materials | Available on the Internet | Available only on the NDL premises | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rare Books and Old Materials | 70,000 | 20,000 | 90,000 |
| Books | 340,000 | 550,000 | 890,000 |
| Periodicals | 5,000 | 1,045,000 | 1,050,000 |
| Newspapers | 6 | - | 6 |
| Historical Recordings | 765 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Official Gazettes | 20,000 | - | 20,000 |
| Doctoral Dissertations | 15,000 | 125,000 | 140,000 |
| Modern Japanese political history materials | 140 | - | 140 |
| Materials on the Allied Occupation of Japan | 17,000 | 700 | 18,000 |
| Prange Collection | - | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Total | 470,000 | 1,780,000 | 2,250,000 |
Materials for which copyright clearance has not been completed can be viewed only on the NDL premises. Although not available for viewing outside the NDL, photocopies can be obtained by postal mail via the NDL copying service.*
* Japanese copyright law generally limits copying to one half of a copyright work.
* Photocopies of Historical Recordings are not available.
Please refer to the following page for information on how to apply for the international
photoduplication service:
http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/help/copy.html
With both the increase of digital materials through the Mass Digitization Project and the launch of the NDL Digitized Contents, even those living in distant places have increased access to materials such as historical documents not easily found in libraries overseas as well as Official Gazettes and prewar sound recordings which only a few institutions hold in large numbers even inside the country. We wish to promote the use of our digital contents from inside and outside the country by developing the contents as well as public relations campaign.
Useful links
[Help pages]
The Digital Library from the Meiji Era http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/en/help_kd.html
The NDL Digitized Contents http://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/help.html
[Reproduction of contents]
The Digital Library from the Meiji Era http://kindai.ndl.go.jp/en/FAQ_kd.html
The NDL Digitized Contents http://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/FAQ.html
[Inquiry about the use of database (the Digital Library from the Meiji Era and the NDL Digitized Contents)]
http://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/contact.html
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