Greetings from the Director General

I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support of and cooperation with the activities of the National Diet Library.

Starting in April 2026, the National Diet Library begins activities as described in our new five-year vision statement entitled National Diet Library Vision 2026–2030: Co-create the Circulation of Knowledge. This new vision statement sets forth five initiatives and fourteen critical activities that will enable us to fulfill our mission and basic roles as stipulated in the National Diet Library Law as well as to build upon the substantial progress already made in digitizing our collections up to March 2026.

Initiative 1　Build the National Collection with and on a Network
Initiative 2　Enable universal access to knowledge with digital technology
Initiative 3　Support the National Diet with robust evidence
Initiative 4　Contribute to creating knowledge with library services utilizing information technology
Initiative 5　Transform organizational capabilities to underpin the circulation of knowledge

In formulating this vision statement, we placed great importance on the terms “Co-” and “Circulation.” Within the library community, the term national collection is generally understood to mean the holdings acquired through the legal deposit system of a national library. But in this age of advancing digitalization, we believe that our national collection should not be defined solely by materials held and maintained by the National Diet Library. This is particularly true for e-books and e-journals, and we feel that it is essential to establish organic connections with content held by other institutions. We hope that strengthening collaboration with related organizations will enable us to co-create a national collection. At the same time, we will continue the vital undertaking of digitization and full-text conversion of our own holdings, which were major areas of focus under the previous vision statement.

We have adopted the expression “circulation of knowledge” to convey the idea that this national collection should be built into a knowledge infrastructure that is accessible to all for use in a wide variety of social activities, including creating new knowledge. The most straightforward expression of the idea of circulation happens when the use of our knowledge infrastructure leads to the creation of new knowledge. There are, of course, many other ways in which the circulation of knowledge takes place, including the use of the knowledge infrastructure for personal learning and leisure activities. Beyond that, improvements to search systems and search methods based on usage history and case studies of infrastructure application also contribute to the circulation of knowledge.

The National Diet Library remains dedicated to continuing our efforts under this new vision statement so that, with your understanding and cooperation, we may contribute to the creation of an even more vibrant and prosperous future.

National Diet Library Vision 2026-2030: Co-create the Circulation of Knowledge

April 2026
KURATA Keiko
Director General of the National Diet Library