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Policy for Acquisition of Materials

The Policy for Acquisition of Materials describes the scope and priority of the National Diet Library (NDL)'s collection based on the Guidelines for Acquisition of Materials (Librarian's Decision No. 2, 1993.).

Table of contents

  • Chapter 1. Introduction
  • Chapter 2. Basic principles for acquisition
  • Chapter 3. Domestic materials and digital information
  • Chapter 4. Foreign materials and digital information
  • Chapter 5. Legislative materials

Basic principles for acquisition

  • #1The NDL is to acquire domestic and foreign materials and digital information necessary for the performance of duties of the Diet Members and the executive and judicial agencies, and the intellectual activities of the general public.
  • #2Domestic materials and digital information are regarded as the most important resources, as a product of intellectual activities in Japan, and are widely collected regardless of their form or medium.
  • #3Multiple copies of domestic materials are to be organized after scrutinizing the necessity of provision.
  • #4Domestic digital information is to be collected or its license agreement entered into as necessary.
  • #5Materials related to Japan published overseas, such as materials about Japan, materials by Japanese authors or artists, etc., are also considered to be as important as domestic materials and are widely collected to develop national collections.
  • #6Foreign materials and digital information necessary for advanced research are selectively organized as a national library, and when there is any digital information which is considered to be necessary or useful for the NDL's user services, its use shall be prioritized considering changes in the information environment.
  • #7The NDL will collaborate with various types of libraries and other holding institutions nationwide, and collect materials and digital information considering collection development for the country as a whole.

Collecting levels

  • Out of Scope: The NDL does not collect any resources in this area.
  • Minimal: This level refers to carefully selected collecting of resources by comprehensively evaluating their necessity for collection development, their holding status at other institutions, etc.
  • Selective: This level refers to evaluative and selective collecting of resources. Note, however, that there may be restrictions depending on the year of publication, budget, and acquisition methods (international exchange, donations, etc.).
  • Active: This level refers to active selecting and collecting of valuable resources in each subject by gathering various publications' information.
  • Comprehensive: This level refers to comprehensive collecting of the applicable resources in the subject, area, group, etc. as much as possible.
  • Exhaustive: The NDL collects all applicable resources in this area.

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