1 Background
NACSIS began operation of the new catalog information service in April 1997. The next step is the support for multiple languages and character sets. The purpose of this step was to make it possible to describe cataloging records of Chinese language materials, for which the greatest level of demand exists. For this purpose, we set up a working group, including members from outside NACSIS, to study the development of a database for Chinese language materials. Since their conclusions have been compiled in a report entitled ÒHandling Chinese language materials (proposal)Ó and reported at the First Union Catalog Committee Meeting, which was held on November 29, 1998. A summary of the contents of the report and an overview of the schedule for the months ahead are provided below.

2 “Handling Chinese language materials” (proposal)
The proposal is divided into three sections: “1. Basic guidelines,” “2. Revisions to the ‘Catalog information standards,’” and “3. Coding manual for Chinese language materials.”

In “1. Basic guidelines,” five points are covered: 1) as a general rule, “Nippon cataloging rules (NCR), 1987 revision” should be used as the applicable cataloging rules, and “Zhongguo wenxian bianmu guize (Cataloging rules for Chinese documments” may be applied as necessary; 2) with regard to the preceding, data shall be recorded as written in the original, according to the basic rules of transcription; 3) to enable searches by Chinese character word units, encoding of the Japanese readings of characters will have to be added, and Pinyin romanization may be included in addition to the Japanese readings; 4) no separate file will be created for Chinese antiquarian books, but plans call for other input rules; and 5) existing catalog data on Chinese language materials will be converted into UCS (Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set) and incorporated into the Union Catalog Database.

In “2. Revisions to the ‘Catalog Information Standards’” points to be revised in the current standards are specified, and additional rules on the representation of the readings and word spacing are presented. These rules are not intended to standardize readings and word spacing, but rather to assist ease of searching the database. Also, with regard to the handling of special characters and symbols, of the characters in UCS only those included in JISX0208:1997 are to be used. Also, symbols such as the “compound start” included in the EXC character set are not to be used.

“3. Coding manual for Chinese language materials” only covers basic fields. After the standards have been formally decided, we will study on the remaining items.

3 Schedule after this
Reflecting the opinions at the Union Catalog Committee Meeting, we opened the report to the public by “Online system newsletter” No. 65 (issued in Dec., 1998) in order to disseminate its contents widely. The report will be reexamined, including the opinions that have been collected from catalogers, and the new “Catalog information standards” and “Coding manual” are scheduled to be issued in 1999.