International Exchange of Publications

• Exchange of official publications
• Exchange of commercial publications
• Acceptance of deposit materials
• Exchanging materials using the Exchange List

The National Diet Library (NDL) serves as a national institution for the international exchange of publications, in accordance with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention concerning the International Exchange of Publications (6th treaty in 1984) and Convention concerning the Exchange of Official Publications and Government Documents between States (7th treaty in 1984).

Currently, the NDL is registered as an exchange partner with more than 900 institutions in countries and regions around the world.

The National Diet Library Law stipulates that official publications published by agencies of the Japanese government, municipalities, independent administrative institutions, national universities, and other similar organizations must be deposited with the NDL. These materials, together with the NDL's own publications, comprise the bulk of NDL resources exchanged with foreign organizations. The NDL delivers these publications to foreign institutions in return for the official publications of the partner countries. The majority of these materials are not available commercially.

Official publications from Japanese institutions are increasingly published in digital format and directly accessible via the Internet.

• Current Digitization of Official Publications in Japan

The NDL exchanges commercial publications with foreign institutions based on agreements concluded through bilateral negotiations.

We actively exchange commercial publications with institutions in China and Republic of Korea, particularly with the National Library of China and the National Assembly Library in the Republic of Korea.

The NDL serves as the central library of Japan and strives to acquire materials related to Japan but published in foreign countries through international exchange. We have therefore concluded agreements with national libraries in the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Republic of Korea to provide these institutions with materials related to our partner countries but published in Japan in exchange for materials related to Japan but published in our partner countries.

The NDL is designated as a depository library by the United Nations (UN), special organizations of the UN, and other institutions. These partner institutions thus deposit copies of their publications with the NDL.

Major institutions include the UN, the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Trade Organization (WTO/GATT), the European Union (EU), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Several times a year, the NDL publishes and provides to its partners an exchange list, comprising mainly materials published by the NDL, agencies of the national as well as of municipal governments, independent administrative institutions, and national universities in Japan. Exchange partners may select the materials they desire from this list, within certain limits.

Please contact the address below if your organization is interested in the NDL Exchange List and wishes to become an exchange partner.

Foreign Materials Division
Acquisitions and Bibliography Department
National Diet Library
1-10-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8924 JAPAN

Fax: +81-3-3581-1330
E-Mail: kokan