In April of 1984, the forerunner of NACSIS, the Center for Bibliographic Information of the University of Tokyo, connected the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagoya University, and Osaka University and began test operation of the library network. In December, a monograph held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology were recorded as the first data of the cataloging system. In April 1986, when NACSIS was formally launched, there were already 12 university libraries linked up. At the time, however, there were less than 5000 items in the union catalog database. In 1987, however, retrospective input of monographs stored at Hokkaido University and the University of Tokyo began. The effects of the shared cataloging system began to appear and other university libraries as well started inputting new monographs received. In 1988, the number of items input increased dramatically and by September data stored reached 1 million items. This was done in just three years and nine months from the start of operations of the cataloging system. The 5 million mark was reached in May 1991, the 10 million mark in April 1993, and the 20 million mark in December 1995. In this way, the data has increased steadily and rapidly. (See figure at end.)

The formation of union catalog databases for serials is the longest running project in which NACSIS is engaged - having inherited it from the editing project for 'Union Catalog of Serials' run by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture since 1953. From the beginning, actual printed catalogs have been issued, but starting 1988 the cataloging system began to be used as well and it became possible to register and make corrections to data on-line. The editing project alternately published Japanese language editions and western language editions setting three-year intervals for national surveys and editing work. These included the following:

"Union Catalog of Scientific Periodicals in European Languages, 1988" (96,000 serials and 840,000 items)
"Union Catalog of Serials in Japanese Languages, 1991" (69,000 serials and 1.4 million items)
"Union Catalog of Serials in European Languages, 1994" (115,000 serials and 1.05 million items)

Further, a system was developed for displaying on an on-line screen a "Title Change Map" so as to be able to handle changes in the names of the serials in the records.

The ILL (Inter-Library Loan) system was developed as a three year project starting from 1989. In 1992, when the union catalog databases for monographs and serials were already stably growing, full-scale service was initiated. Right from the start of the service, wide use has been made of the ILL system for the efficient distribution of scientific information using the union catalog databases and the library network. (See figure at end.)

Rapid progress was subsequently made in the computer communications environment of the university libraries. The spread of workstations and the use of the Internet have prompted work on converting the NACSIS catalog system to an open system. In 1993, a UNIX version of UIP (XUIP) was developed and started to be distributed. A simplified version of UIP compatible with TCP/IP has spread among even private sector library system manufacturers. Even small libraries are starting to participate in NACSIS. In recent years, around 60 institutions have joined up each year. There are now approximately 500 participating in NACSIS. Over 60 percent of Japanese universities are members. In addition, six British institutions (Oxford, Cambridge, Sterling, Sheffield, London, and the British Library) are creating a union catalog database for Japanese language materials as participating libraries.

To enable NACSIS to cope with this increase in participating libraries, the union catalog database is being transferred from a mainframe to a database server and a new CAT/ILL system based on a server-client system is being developed. This service will begin in April 1997. Since changes in data can be immediately made, in the future it will become possible to use the service close to 24 hours a day. This will enable the catalog system to be used more overseas as well. Further, in parallel with the conventional screen type UIP, the new CAT/ILL service enables the construction of a highly flexible system which enables not only a fixed screen but also free introduction of electronic library functions etc. which will be needed by university library services in the future. At the present time, these new library package systems have yet to appear, but detailed specifications for such new catalog systems have been opened to the public at meetings with manufacturers and at the NACSIS web site (http//:www.op.cat.nacsis.ac.jp). Rapid development of library systems using these new catalog systems is expected.

The union catalog database for monographs currently holds over 25 million pieces of data and, covering as it does over 10 percent of the approximately 200 million monographs stored in Japanese university libraries, has grown to the largest union catalog database in the country. In future, using the new CAT/ILL system as a springboard, a multilingual catalog system is scheduled to be developed which will enable information to be recorded into the union catalog database not only using the Japanese language and alphabetic information but also Chinese and Korean language catalog information and in turn all sorts of other languages. The aim is the eventual formation of an Asian Union Catalog.

The number of libraries participating on-line in the union catalog database of serials is also rising. The former three year interval of revisions has been shortened to two as a result. Further, the "Union Catalog of Serials" is scheduled to be issued not only in printed form, but also in CD-ROM form for easier use by researchers.

NACSIS has also began a service whereby it returns to the participating libraries which register their monographs and serials in the union catalog databases CD-ROMs containing the catalog information of those individual libraries. In the future, it will also be possible to access one's own catalog information by an ftp site and thereby even more simply construct a local database.

The ILL system using the union catalog databases of monographs and serials has also been growing smoothly. At the present time, libraries cooperate and input over 3000 new ILL items each day. The NACSIS has expanded its retrieval functions to be able to request information from the British Library Document Supply Centre since 1994 and the National Diet Library since 1996 and therefore is well prepared to meet the needs of researchers for information. Along with the growth of the union catalog database, the amount of scientific information available has grown greatly. In the future, progress should be made in technology for the electronic circulation or electronic transmission of images of the actual materials themselves. Work has begun on development of campus LANs and document delivery systems enabling researchers to obtain the documents they require while in their laboratories.

Further, the system will go beyond the distribution of information in Japan. The ILL system is open to the rest of the world as well. NACSIS expects to become increasingly important as a center for supply of documents to the world.