National Diet Library Research Articles

The Current Situation of Japanese Copyright Law Regarding Internet Transmission of Library Materials – The Amendment to the Copyright Act in 2021

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Japan to review Art. 31 of the Copyright Act in 2021, which pertains to limitations on copyright for library usage. As a result, access to library materials via the internet became legally permissible within certain limits. Specifically, the amendment allows (1) the National Diet Library to transmit rare or out-of-print materials to individuals on the internet; and (2) libraries and similar facilities to provide users with public transmission services (transmitting portions of copyrighted works to users for research or study purposes). This article introduces the revisions made to Art. 31 in the 2021 amendment, explains the current situation regarding internet transmission of library materials in Japan, and explores future issues. Transmission via the internet is not subject to physical or locational constraints. The provision of library materials via the internet will thus involve considering how to position and organize the relationship between the individual transmission service for rare or out-of-print library materials by the National Diet Library and public transmission services by individual libraries.

The Status of Nationwide Implementation of Integrative Medicine Programs by Japanese Local Government from a “Social Model” Viewpoint

Background: The world's demographics are transitioning, prompting governments globally to adopt diverse health promotion and disease prevention programs to enhance people's quality of life. While several integrative medicine (IM) programs, including traditional or alternative medicine, may be in place, the level of implementation nationwide is unknown. This research represents the first nationwide study in Japan, conducted in 2018 before local government health programs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines the use of IM by local government in Japan and its safety and effectiveness as a “social model.”Methods: IM programs for disease prevention and health promotion of all 1,944 Japanese local governments in 2018, were retrieved the using the Web Archive Project of the National Diet Library, which is a maintained website repository for all Japanese local government including IM and health programs.Results: A total of 1,739 IM programs were implemented in 537 local governments (27.6% among all Japanese local governments). These included programs for Yoga (1,242; 71.4% of the projects), Qigong (211; 12.1%), and Aromatherapy (145; 8.3%). Among the providers of the programs, only 16 (0.9%) were national medical-related license holders. The purpose of disease prevention or health promotion was not described with scientific basis (safety and effectiveness).Conclusion: Japanese local government conduct health-promoting IM programs, but untrained providers administer many of them. There needs to be more evidence to support the alleged health promotion objectives. Local governments require better support and evidence-based planning to rectify this situation.

Increasing Space for Collections Storing: National Libraries Practice

Library collection development is directly related to the issues of placement, storage and delivery of documents. The eternal storage of the totality of documents that make up the national heritage is one of the functions of national libraries (NL), which solve the problem of placing materials with consideration to their financial and other capabilities.An overview of the successful national libraries’ practice in solving the lack of storage space problem is presented (Library of Congress, British Library, German National Library, National Diet Library of Japan, National Library of France, Royal Library of Sweden, Austrian National Library, National Library of the Czech Republic, Royal Library of the Netherlands). The experience of the Russian State Library in solving this problem is also analyzed.Finding place for growing collections with a tight of storing conditions is a challenge that requires not only constant attention, but also a flexible approach. Various options for solving this problem are being considered: construction of new (including remote) storage facilities; efficient use of existing premises (for example, an implementation of high density storage systems or co-opting of premises built for other purposes — idle exhibition centers functional conversion, etc.); lease of rentable areas.The research is based on the analysis of information from official websites of the national libraries.The appendix presents the results of the NL survey on the following issues: withdrawing of certain categories of materials, dispatching them to depositories; construction of new storage buildings; statistics concerning active use and actual availability of collections.

Constitutive and Material: An Empirical Analysis of the Two Dimensions of the Communication on Microplastics in Japanese Journals

Microplastics, an increasingly widespread environmental problem, have built a high profile on different communication platforms in Japan. Inspired by Davies and Horst’s understanding that science communication is constitutive and material, this article empirically analyzed the general situation of microplastics communication in the Japanese context. We examined the development in the meaning of microplastics as the exemplification of the constitutive dimension, as well as its communication stages, authorship, and readership with different interests as the representation of the material dimension. We chose the database National Diet Library Online as representative of Japanese literature. We extracted 190 microplastic-relevant journal articles published in different journal types from 2016 to 2020 and collected 162 online news articles as supplementary material. We found that even though the constitutive meaning of microplastics grew up fast, especially around 2018 and 2019, material factors varied that showed inclinations in practical communications. Despite the similar scale of communication in the specialist and the popular stages, the influences of scientists and interests from scientific fields on microplastics topics were overwhelmingly over the public fields, the divergences of which suggested several difficulties in solving such a complicated environmental problem.

The End of Japan's isolation. Expeditions of M.K. Perry and E.V. Putyatin in the Context of the Struggle for Colonies in the North Pacific in the Middle of the 19th Century

In the 17th century, Japan proclaimed sakoku, a policy of controlled and severely limited external contacts. It lasted a little more than two centuries and became the reaction of the Japanese shogunate to a long bloody era of unrest, which ended only with the coming to power of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who united the country. The completion of sakoku is associated with expeditions to Japan by M. Perry and E.V. Putyatin in 1853-1854. This work shows the peculiarities of the international situation that has developed in relation to Japan. The main milestones of navigation are noted. Attention is paid to the role of the Russian-American company in Putyatin's expedition. The article examines the process of conducting long and complex multi-stage negotiations between the United States and Japan and Russia and Japan, which resulted in the conclusion of the Kanagawa and Shimoda treaties, respectively. The article provides evidence of contemporaries of the signing of treaties that can show common and distinctive features, the texts of treaties in Russian, English and Japanese are studied. It is noted that despite the similar situation and repetitive articles, there are significant differences in the texts of the treaties. The treaties became a model for similar agreements between Japan and other countries. The article is written on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach. Particular attention was paid to working with archival sources, including documents from the Russian State Archives of the Navy (RGA VMF), the State Archives of the Irkutsk Region (GAIO), the Archives of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI), the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library (OR RNL) and the electronic archive of the National Diet Library of Japan.

A Note on Digital Humanities Research on the Reception of Matsuo Bashō in Modern Japan ：Crossing Borders between Human Reading and Machine Reading

In this essay, I provided a brief report and perspective on digital humanities research related to the study of modern Japanese literature. First, I reviewed the recent increase in the availability of digital full-text databases, including Aozora Bunko, the National Diet Library’s Next Digital Library, Maruzen eBook Library, and Google Books. Next, as an example of digital humanities-based literary studies using the Next Digital Library, I attempted to study the reception of Matsuo Bashō between 1868 and 1945. Specifically, I searched the Next Digital Library—which currently has about 280,000 modern books available for full-text search—for Bashō’s <i>haiku</i> and found over a thousand works by him, although the total number differs depending on the counting method. I researched the <i>haikus</i> individually for the full-text data in books published between 1868 and 1945, using the computer language Python to automate the search and retrieve the results. Consequently, the top 30 most frequently cited works were identified. For the top five, the number of mentions by year of publication was also investigated. Results between the human- and computer-based reception studies were compared, and the strengths and weaknesses in understanding the context were highlighted. As for future prospects, I discussed the importance of human-computer collaboration, the necessity for combining large-scale full-text data sets with other databases, and the possibilities for structuring text using TEI and other methods.

Measurement properties of appraisal tools for mixed methods research: A systematic review protocol

Purpose: Evaluating the study quality for mixed methods research is more challenging than assessing that for monomethod research because of the former’s greater complexity and procedural multiplicity—particularly, the integration of quantitative and qualitative components. Consensus on the appraisal tools of mixed methods studies is important to ensure that such studies are properly planned, conducted, reported, and reviewed. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the measurement properties of appraisal tools developed to assess research quality in mixed methods research. Method: Inclusion criteria are as follows: (1) The population under investigation must be researchers. (2) Instruments must provide items, such as design, to evaluate the quality of mixed methods studies. (3) Outcomes must focus on validity (content validity, structural validity) and reliability (internal consistency). (4) Finally, the study type must be measurement property research, and hence, tool development and evaluation studies are eligible. We will search for studies published and dissertations in English and Japanese from a variety of sources, including Scopus, MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and dissertation ERIC, ProQuest, CiNii (Japanese), Ichushi‑Web (Japanese), and National Diet Library (Japanese). The duration of the search is not limited. All the citations will be screened and selected by two independent reviewers. Data extraction, quality assessment, and syntheses of included studies will be performed according to the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments criteria. Systematic review registration number: PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021238210.

『대동여지도』 모사본의 형태와 유형 연구

This paper aims to research on the 18 map-copies which are the transcript-edition of Daedongyeojido (大東輿地圖, 1861). In the relationship with the woodblock print, there are cases which are simply copied. In other cases, errors on maps were corrected. And in some cases the map folder system was changed, and the toponyms with the geographical notes were added. Based on the form and contents, the maps were classified into four types. Among them, a group of modified copy edition in which four maps were included has common characteristics in terms of form and contents. The size and geographical contents of those maps show that this transformation was modeled after a woodblock edition in the National Diet Library, Japan. Even though many of the geographical names and notes were originated from the previous manuscript editions of large-scale Joseon maps, newly added notes contain the historical geography of Joseon. The fact that those manuscript copies were made in the 19th century shows that there was a continuous demand for Daedongyeojido. And the addition of contents in maps is for the overcome of the limitations of woodblock maps.

People’s perceptions on social media archiving by the National Library of Japan

Social media content can be considered an unprecedented historical resource that reflects present-day ordinary life. However, although private data are publicly available on social media, the preserving of such personal content by a third party entails legal and ethical concerns. We report on a nationwide questionnaire survey conducted to obtain the responses of people to hypothetical scenarios of social media archiving by the National Diet Library in Japan. Within our survey sample, 35% of respondents ( n = 1126) disagreed with scenarios involving the preserving of blogs and public tweets. Moreover, we found that the agreement rate for the archiving of government websites already collected under the current legislation was 44%. Ordered logistic analysis clarified that privacy-sensitive respondents tend to resist archival scenarios, and content analysis showed that the disagreement reasons involve concerns over information privacy. Our findings suggest that informed consent and data anonymisation could be effective means to mitigate such concerns.

Lecture 2-6: Ten Years of the Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (Hinagiku) at the National Diet Library

Lecture 2-6: Ten Years of the Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (Hinagiku) at the National Diet Library

The 2021 Copyright Law Amendment and National Diet Library’s Digitized Contents Transmission Service for individual users

The 2021 Copyright Law Amendment and National Diet Library’s Digitized Contents Transmission Service for individual users

D22] Applicability of OCR full text data of digitized materials held by the National Diet Library: From the search results for Okinawa-related keywords in the NDL Lab's experimental services

D22] Applicability of OCR full text data of digitized materials held by the National Diet Library: From the search results for Okinawa-related keywords in the NDL Lab's experimental services

Celebrating 10 years of system development at the Digital Information Department of the National Diet Library, Japan

Celebrating 10 years of system development at the Digital Information Department of the National Diet Library, Japan

Dr. Makoto Nagao as Director General of the National Diet Library

Dr. Makoto Nagao as Director General of the National Diet Library

Overview of Dr. Nagao's contributions to National Diet Library

Overview of Dr. Nagao's contributions to National Diet Library

Various aspects of Dr. Nagao: His activities in Kyoto after his retirement as Director General of National Diet Library

Various aspects of Dr. Nagao: His activities in Kyoto after his retirement as Director General of National Diet Library

Disputes in the 1950s concerning the “Description-Independent System” (2) and the Printed Card Distribution Service of the National Diet Library

Disputes in the 1950s concerning the “Description-Independent System” (2) and the Printed Card Distribution Service of the National Diet Library

The closing of archives related to the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster and the acquisition of archival content by the National Diet Library Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (HINAGIKU)

The closing of archives related to the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster and the acquisition of archival content by the National Diet Library Great East Japan Earthquake Archive (HINAGIKU)

Future uncertainties for preserving tweets: Peoples’ perceptions in Japan

Social media content includes an unprecedented number of personal documents reflecting our time. Few countries or regions have established legal grounds for securing long-term access to these documents, while paper-based publications have been exhaustively accumulated under legal deposit systems. However, archiving social media through national libraries, as a sort of state intervention, could bring about chilling effects on free speech in unexpected ways. The article aims to present empirical data of public concerns concerning social media content, focusing on Twitter’s public tweets archived by third parties, through two questionnaire surveys involving university students (Research I) and the public (Research II). The surveys were designed based on three settings: researchers, organisations to which the respondents belong and the National Diet Library in Japan. Consequently, approximately 30% and 47% of the respondents in Research I ( n = 197) and II ( n = 728), respectively, disagreed with any hypothetical scenario. An ordered logistic analysis to reveal the inter-relations of variables suggests the existence of other factors; thus, neither variables related to Twitter/Internet use nor demographic variables influenced people’s perceptions of the archival issue. While protecting privacy rights and copyrights was the primary reason for disagreements regarding third-party archival of tweets, many respondents intuitively displayed a negative reaction without any specific reason. Those who question its value and feel uncomfortable with an authoritative intervention were also identified. To nurture acceptant attitudes, advocating the archival of personal documents and adopting more restrictive archival procedures like taking down posts and anonymisation, public debates on the intervention of public bodies and demonstration of archival values should be considered.

Books Held and Weeded by Japanese Public Libraries and Not Held by National Diet Library

Books Held and Weeded by Japanese Public Libraries and Not Held by National Diet Library