■Topics 2018
2018-02-03 Library
The Nichibunken Library can now be accessed via the Online Computer Library Center WorldCat site.
Catalog information for the books and materials in the Nichibunken Library has now been registered on the OCLC WorldCat website, enabling researchers in universities and institutes throughout the world to search its collection online.The Online Computer Library Center is a U.S.-based non-profit cooperative organization providing library information services among more than 70,000 universities and research institutes in 170 countries and regions. WorldCat union catalog is the world’s largest online database and is used by research institutes and scholars around the world. Participation by libraries in Japan has been limited to only a few institutions including the National Diet Library and Waseda University Library, and Japan studies scholars and libraries overseas have been urging Japan to provide more information and materials for online access.
In January 2018, through a tie-up with OCLC and Kinokuniya Shoten, the Nichibunken Library registered the some 300,000 titles of the Japanese and non-Japanese works in its collection with the OCLC service. Of that data about 170,000 entries have been newly added to the WorldCat union catalog. For these entries, the readings of titles in roman letters, which were not previously available, have been added. These romanized titles are now to be added (as of the end of March 2018) to the entries in Nichibunken’s OPAC database along with the OCLC ID information.
Nichibunken’s inclusion in the OCLC service is expected to have the following benefits:
• The books and materials in the Nichibunken Library collection will be much easier to find by users around the world.
• Links provided through the OCLC bibliographic index will allow users searching via WorldCat to find Nichibunken’s Library OPAC and the digital images in the Nichibunken Databases.
• Search in the Nichibunken Library OPAC using roman letters for all titles has been made possible.
From April 2018, moreover, Nichibunken will also provide interlibrary loan services (loaning of books and reproduction of materials by librarians in Japan and overseas) through the OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan service. Through this service, researchers in other countries around the world will be able to gain use of the materials in the Nichibunken Library through their affiliated institutions. We hope these services will contribute to the growth and encouragement of Japanese studies internationally.
Materials in the Nichibunken Library can be searched via the WorldCat site as follows:
At the OCLC WorldCat site (https://www.worldcat.org/), enter your search item in Japanese characters or roman letters.
→ In the Detail Record screen, enter “Japan” in response to the “Enter your location” item.
→ If your search item is in the Nichibunken Library, then “International Research Center for Japanese Studies” will appear. (As of the end of March 2018, it will also be possible to click directly into the Nichibunken Library OPAC database.)
