International Expansion of NACSIS Projects
Yukiharu KAKIMOTO 1)
Director, Operations Department, NACSIS1) NACSIS, National Center for Sciences Build., 2-1-2, Hitostsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430, Fax: +81-(0)3-3556-1916; E-mail: kakimoto@op.nacsis.ac.jp; http://www.nacsis.ac.jp The paper was delivered at the Karuizawa Inose Lodge on Wednesday October 20th, 1999.
1 Introduction
2 International Projects
2.1 Information Retrieval Service (NACSIS-IR)
2.2 Cataloging Information Service (NACSIS-CAT)
2.3 Inter-library Loan Service (NACSIS-ILL)
2.4 Electronic Library System (NACSIS-ELS)
2.5 Asian Information Survey Activities
2.6 Science Information Exchange Project with China
2.7 Publicly Accessible Databases on the WWW
2.8 Establishment of International Communication Links
3 Future Plans
Annex 1: NACSIS-IR users in overseas（Since August 1993）
Annex 2: Databases of NACSIS-IR
Annex 3: NACSIS-CAT users in overseasEver since its establishment, the National Center for Science Information Systems (NACSIS) has considered promoting the international dissemination of academic information to be one of its key objectives. To encourage the exchange of scholarly information internationally, NACSIS has worked to build and expand an international academic research network, for example through the installation of dedicated international communication lines to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Thailand. In addition, NACSIS has expanded projects such as the Cataloging Information Service and the Information Retrieval Service internationally, so as to be able to provide them to a wide range of scholars and academic institutions overseas. In recent years the interdependence between Japan and other countries has increased. This, of course, also holds true for many fields of academic research. NACSIS is well known both in Japan and overseas as a key institution involved in the dissemination of academic information produced in Japan. This has led to increasing requests for the supply of academic information as well as expansion of the services we provide.
Academic research networks have experienced enormous advancement in recent years in the United States and Europe. Exchange of academic information between scholars in those countries has reached a truly global scale via the Internet. Usage of the Internet is expanding in Japan as well, in much the same manner as has already occurred in the United States and Europe. The knowledge that the exchange of information with scholars and academic institutions overseas is essential to promoting sophisticated academic research activities over a wider area and making the most effective use of information resources lies at the heart of efforts made by NACSIS to expand its international projects.
2.1 Information Retrieval Service (NACSIS-IR)
NACSIS makes its Information Retrieval Service (NACSIS-IR) available outside of Japan in order to contribute to the expansion of academic research on an international scale by promoting the dissemination overseas of academic information produced in Japan (see Appendix 1).Overseas availability began with a trial implementation in which the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Library of Congress (LC) in the United States and the British Library (BL) in Britain served as proxy retrieval facilities. The trial implementation at the NSF and LC lasted from January 1989 through August 1993, and at the BL from February 1990 through March 1995. This experience gave us a feel for the demand existing for information from Japan. Further trials continued at libraries participating in the UK CAT project, which is discussed later in this document, and valuable experience was gained regarding the process of establishing connections with institutions overseas, offering services to users, etc.
Based on the experience acquired through the above trials, the NACSIS-IR service for overseas universities and academic institutions, which requires a subscription fee, was implemented via the Internet. In June 1995 a full-text fax output service for overseas users was launched. To encourage further use of the service and make it more efficient, an English-language version of the "NACSIS-IR User's Manual" was produced. This document can be accessed using Gopher, anonymous FTP, or the Worldwide Web.
At present a total of 46 databases are being made available to overseas users. In January 2000 a new information search system will make its debut. It will support searches using a Web browser interface and data retrieval using a full-text search engine (see Appendix 2).
2.2 Cataloging Information Service (NACSIS-CAT)
The Cataloging Information Service (NACSIS-CAT) is intended to promote the international dissemination of academic information by providing an efficient means of creating catalog data on the holdings of university libraries and similar institutions in Japan and providing this information to users in Japan and overseas. In addition, NACSIS-CAT is aimed at assisting the organization of Japanese-language materials housed in Japanese research institutions overseas.At present it is used mainly by research libraries in Britain that handle Japanese-language materials. Most of the participating libraries in Britain were part of a pilot project that ran from March 1991 through March 1995, and became authorized members in April 1995.
The UK pilot project got its start at a conference held in October 1989 to launch the European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS). At this same conference the idea of using NACSIS-CAT to create a union catalog of Japanese-language information in Europe was proposed and studied, and NACSIS was informed of this. Considering the fact that the United Kingdom is the central location in Europe for the collection of and research on Japanese-language information, the fact that an international data line linking NACSIS and the British Library had already been established for use with NACSIS-IR, and the fact that the United Kingdom's academic and research network JANET could be accessed via the British Library, NACSIS set up a pilot project for cataloging Japanese-language materials online using NACSIS-CAT and involving the British Library and five university libraries (Cambridge University, Oxford University, University of Sheffield, Stirling University, University of London). The details were organized on the UK side by the British Library.
The pilot project consisted of two phases. During Phase 1 (March 1991 through March 1992) the feasibility of creating and using NACSIS-CAT, a union catalog of Japanese-language publications in Britain, was studied. The purpose of Phase 2 (April 1992 through March 1995) was the creation of a union catalog of all of the Japanese-language publications housed by the participating libraries. Reports were issued by the British side on both phases. The work on the union catalog of Japanese-language publications centered on Cambridge University, and the catalog itself was produced there.The connection method used relied on NACSIS-BL dedicated international lines and a packet switching system using JANET. This was later changed to connections based on TCP/IP due to the growing popularity of the Internet and the spread in the use of the Internet Protocol (IP). At present a 2 Mb/second dedicated line established by NACSIS and linked to European research networks (such as TEN-155) is used. Also, NACSIS has begun distributing in Japan individual CD-ROM discs containing NACSIS-CAT data, and distribution of CD-ROM discs containing the union catalog for the participating British libraries has also started. Cataloging of the holdings of the London Japanese-Language Centre of The Japan Foundation began in April 1998, and as of late August 1999 the total number of catalog records for the participating British libraries had exceeded 127,000.
In addition to the work being done in Britain, a project involving the University of Stockholm in Sweden and the University of Zurich in Switzerland has been underway since fiscal 1996. In this way, it is hoped that NACSIS-CAT will make an important contribution to the eventual development of a union catalog of Japanese-language materials for all of Europe. Similar work is moving forward in Asia, with work on organizing Japanese-language materials starting in fiscal 1997 at The Japan Foundation's Japan Cultural Center in Bangkok, Thailand, and in fiscal 1998 at the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies in China.
2.3 Inter-library Loan Service (NACSIS-ILL)
In April 1994 NACSIS-ILL and ARTTel of the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) was connected. It allows participating institutions in Japan to request copies of documents or the loan of originals from BLDSC. This permits researchers to place requests to BLDSC, the world's largest supplier of original documents, using NACSIS-ILL, in the same manner they would request materials from institutions in Japan.Also, in order to promote the dissemination of academic information between Japan and the United States, NACSIS has established an internal project to study improvements to the existing document delivery service mutual connections between the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and Research Libraries Group (RLG), two interlibrary loan services in the United States.
Finally, in April 1994 a trial project requesting copies of documents from Cambridge University and Oxford University was begun, and a similar project requesting copies of documents from institutions in Thailand started in January 1997.
2.4 Electronic Library System (NACSIS-ELS)
The Electronic Library System started in April 1997. It produces digitized versions of academic publications and provides a quick and easy way for scholars to access them. Academic journals and collections of papers provided by academic societies are the current focus of attention, and in January 1999 the service began supplying documents to users such as overseas scholars. Users can search for documents by title or author's name via the Internet using a personal computer. They can then view or print the content of selected documents, which are provided as image files produced from the pages of the original.2.5 Asian Information Survey Activities
An international research survey project, "Asia Information on Asian Information Super Highway" is a three-year plan starting in fiscal 1995 and funded by the Asia Center of The Japan Foundation with the aim of promoting the dissemination of information throughout the Asian region. As part of this effort Thailand was selected as the first country to be focused on, and a "Thailand Online Project" was launched in order to expand the use of NACSIS-IR and NACSIS-CAT in that country. Efforts such as local training in Bangkok, trials of NACSIS-IR and a system for providing copies of documents, and a variety of other investigative activities were the subject of an outside evaluation in fiscal 1997. The evaluators expressed the view that continued information support and investigative activities in the Asian region were essential.The trial implementations of NACSIS-IR and the system for providing copies of documents have continued from fiscal 1998 onward in Thailand.
Work is also underway to enhance the information related to Thailand available from the project's website (http://thaigate.rd.nacsis.ac.jp/).
2.6 Science Information Exchange Project with China
The Science Information Exchange Project with China was launched in fiscal 1998 to promote the flow of academic information between Japan and China. This three-year project is assisting the computerization of the library of the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies. In fiscal 1998, computer workshops and training sessions for librarians were conducted locally. In fiscal 1991, a computerized library application system was introduced, and as of the end of August 1999 more than 13,000 items had been cataloged.2.7 Publicly Accessible Databases on the WWW
The union catalog database WWW search interface service (Webcat), which allows users to access NACSIS's union catalog database via the Internet using a web browser, began full-scale operation in April 1998. It is currently used for an average of over 20,000 searches per day.In addition, Career Information Service, which provides information on advertisement of posts collected from universities and the like, began operation in May 1997.
Finally, an information service providing information on the research activities of universities and other institutions (Directory of Research Activities and Resources) was launched in June 1999. It provides a variety of information on the research resources possessed by institutions such as universities (research institutions, researchers, research facilities and equipment, research topics, etc.).
2.8 Establishment of International Communication Links
NACSIS has established dedicated lines linking it to the United States, Europe (Britain), and Thailand in order to provide the ability to exchange data with other countries for the academic research network, which serves as the infrastructure for the dissemination of academic information.A new 2 Mb/second international dedicated line was set up between NACSIS and Thailand in fiscal 1995 to serve as part of the information dissemination infrastructure for the Asian region. This move was taken to promote information exchange with Thailand and the rest of the Asian region.
Also, the international dedicated line to Europe (Britain), which had been in place since 1989, was upgraded to a capacity of 2 Mbps in fiscal 1996. It is hoped that this will promote information exchange with Europe (Britain) and improve performance for users of services related to the UK CAT system.
Then, in fiscal 1998 the international dedicated line to the United States, the world's information hub, which had been in place since 1988, was upgraded to a capacity of 150 Mbps. This provides bandwidth comparable to that of communication lines in Japan and is expected to improve the performance of data transfers with the United States, which had previously often suffered from saturation.
In the future, NACSIS plans to continue increasing bandwidth and upgrading the system in order to keep pace with the rapid advancement of trend toward international dissemination of information.
The above-mentioned international projects of NACSIS have passed through their trial use phase and been officially inaugurated. Many of the services are now expanding in scope. In the future, each of these services will need to be offered to a wider range of international users, and expanded possibilities for reciprocal use of information resources will be required.
Some problems still lack solutions. These include (1) language difficulties, (2) setting of usage fees and establishment of a system for collecting them, (3) training of users, and (4) system compatibility issues affecting users.
1. U.S.A. Library of Congress
University of California, Berkeley
University of Pittsburgh
University of California, Los Angels
University of California, San Diego
University of Washington
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Iowa2. U.K. British Library
University of Oxford
Cambridge University3. Germany IFO Institute for Economic Research
Humboldt-University of Berlin4. Netherland Leiden University 5. Australia Australian National University 6. South Korea Hanyang University
Seoul University7. Sweden Stockholm University
Annex 2: Databases of NACSIS-IR 1. Creating Databases
Economic Titles Japan Bibliographic citations of literature on economics Scientific Papers (Series 1: Electronics) Fulltext of scientific papers in the field of electronics Scientific Papers (Series 2: Physical chemistry) Fulltext of scientific papers in the field of chemistry Scientific Papers (Series 5: Physical Sciences) Fulltext of scientific papers in the field of physical science Clinical Case Reports Fulltext of scientific papers in the field of clinical medicine Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research Research project information with abstracts on research subsidized by Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research, Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture Register of Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research Research themes funded by Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research Dissertation Index Index to doctoral theses submitted to universities in Japan Calendar of Academic Conferences, compiled by Science Council of Japan Calendar of international conferences to which societies registered at Science Council of Japan have relation Current Contents of Academic Serials in Japan Current contents of academic serials in all fields in Japan Academic Conference Papers Citation with abstracts of conference papers presented to conference and meetings of the academic societies Electronic File of Academic Conference Papers Citations of papers presented to conferences and meetings in Japan (fulltext is supplied by facsimile) Directory of Researchers Information on research subjects, papers, etc. of researchers in universities Database Directory Directory of databases created by and/or served at universities in Japan Private Grants-in-Aid Research Research project information with abstracts on grant-in-aid scientific research subsidized by private foundations Union Catalog of Books Union catalog of books held by universities in Japan Union Catalog of Serials Union catalog of serials held by universities in Japan 2. Importing Databases
National Diet Library Catalog of Foreign Books Foreign Books catalog held by the National Diet Library / National Diet Library Japanese Periodical Index Bibliographic citations of scientific papers in all fields in Japan / National Diet Library Register of Private Grants-in-Aid Research themes funded by private grant foundations / Foundation Library Center of Japan JPMARC National bibliography on books published in Japan / National Diet Library 3. Assimilating Databases
Directory of Special Collections of National University Libraries Directory of Special Collections of Humanities and Social Sciences held by National University Libraries in Japan / University of Tokyo Library Database on Bibliography for Scientific Studies on Cultural Properties Bibliographic information on articles on scientific analyses and measurements using cultural properties in Japan / Japanese Society for Scientific Studies on Cultural Properties Researcher directory of Buddhist and Indic Studies in Japan Profile of researchers engaged in research on Buddhist and Indic studies in Japan and information on papers published / The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, The Toyo Bunko Database of Japanese Traditional Music by Modern Composers Bibliographic information on the contemporary music which has been composed mostly in the post-World II years for Japan's traditional musical instruments / The Okita Memorial Association for International Exchange of Japanese Music Bibliography of Japanese Sociology Bibliographic information on books and periodicals related to sociology that published by Japanese scholars or published in Japan / The Japan Sociological Society Catalog of Collection related to Curriculum Development and Instruction of Japanese Language Teaching, held by Naruto University of Education Catalog information for books, periodicals and other data in the "collection of Junya NOJI" and "Collection of Hama OHMURA" held by the Naruto University of Education Library / Naruto University of Education Library Summary of Material of Ishin History Fulltext of summary of materials of Ishin (Meiji Restoration) / Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo Inventory of Japanese Historical Documents Documents covered by historiographical materials, some of which take the form of "Eisha-bon" (full-size tracings made with brush and India ink on thin Japanese paper) / Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo Hokkaido University Northern Studies Collection Database Bibliographic information on the Northern Studies Collection of Japan, collected and held by the Northern Studies Collection of the Hokkaido University Library / Hokkaido University Library Unearthed Wooden Tablets "Shakumon" (text) of unearthed wooden tablets in Japan and bibliographic citations of the reports / Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute Researcher directory of Asian Historical Studies in Japan Profile of researchers engaged in research on Asian History in Japan and information on papers published / The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, The Toyo Bunko Bibliography of Central Asian Historical Studies in Japan Index information of academic documents in Japan relating of the Central Asian region / The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, The Toyo Bunko Bibliography of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies in Japan Index information of academic documents in Japan relating of the Middle East and Islamic region / The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies for UNESCO, The Toyo Bunko Japanese Slavic and East European Studies Database Information on literature relating to Slavic area published in Japan / Society for the Documentation on Slavic Studies Bibliographia germanistica Japonica Bibliographic information on books and serials held by Japanische Gesellschaft fur Germanistik / Japanische Gesellschaft Germanistik Database of Dossiers related to Japan in Russian Diplomatic Archives Information on the Japan-related dossiers in the holdings of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / The Russian Politics Encyclopedia Compilation Committee Chemical Sensor Database Information on preparation and property of chemical sensors with bibliographic citations / Chemistry Database Committee, Yokohama National University Chemical Education Database Citations (with abstracts) of articles appearing in "Chemistry and Education", Journal of Chemical Society of Japan / The Chemical Society of Japan Electric Chemistry Database Numeric information relating to parameters of electric chemical reactions and physical chemistry parameter of electrolytic solutions with bibliographic citation / Chemistry Database Committee, Yokohama National University RAMBIOS Bibliographic citation of review articles in the field of molecular biosciences / RAMBIOS Publishing Committee Calendar of Academic Meetings, compiled by Japan Federation of Engineering Societies Calendar of meetings and conferences to which member societies of the Japan Federation of Engineering Societies have relation / Japan Federation of Engineering Societies Index to Papers of Architectural Institute of Japan Index of papers featured in journals published by the Architectural Institute of Japan / The Architectural Institute of Japan Database of Medical Conference Proceedings in Japan Catalog of conference proceedings in Japanese Languages related to medical science and pharmacy, held by International Medical Information Center / International Medical Information Center Database of Geographical Studies in Japan Bibliographic information on books and periodicals on geography and closely related fields that published in Japan / The Human Geographical Society of Japan Index for General Information of Home Economics Research Bibliographic citation of scientific papers in the field of home economics / The Japan Society of Home Economics
N.B. ( ) Nnumber of holding records (as of September 1999)
Annex 3: NACSIS-CAT users in overseas U.K. (127,906 records) The British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections
Cambridge University Library
Bodleian Japanese Library, University of Oxford
School of East Asian Studies Library, University of Sheffield
Scottish Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Stirling
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
The Japan Foundation London Language Centre
Department of Japanese Antiquities, The British MuseumThailand (7,957) Japan Cultural Center, Bangkok, The Japan Foundation China (13,193） Beijing Center for Japanese Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University Switzerland (383） Japanese Library, University of Zurich* Sweden (3,474） East Asian Library, Stockholm University* Germany Department of Japanese Studies, Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg*
East Asian Library, Duisburg University*Belgium East Asian Library, Catholic University of Louvain*
* project member library (using training system)Top
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