Library and Information Science

The writer begins with a statement of the union catalog and union listing situation in Japan. Several basic standards are mentioned such as the card-size, rules for cataloging and filing, etc. The Berghoffer system, i.e., disregarding forenames and initials in filing as applied in the Frankfurter Union Catalog and elsewhere is discussed.

Four different procedures in union catalog compilation are mentioned and some adaptations such as Bauhuis plan and Tokyo University's Consolidated Union Catalog Project are described.

In the main part of this article the writer tries to compare three of the union lists, which were published during 1955–1958 in Japan. These three lists attempt to include the monographs on librarianship kept in Japanese academic libraries. The number of holding libraries included are 8: 178 and 32, and the number of titles included are 2827: 6180 and 1344, respectively. These figures include overlapping of libraries and titles. Some discrepancies in the location of holdings are noted. Special effort was made to maintain an objective point of view rather than to criticize the separate lists.

An attempt has also been made to analyse and discuss another union list, Zenkoku yakugaku toshokan shozo gakujutsu zasshi sogomokuroku, obunhen. 1961 [The Union List of foreign periodicals contained in 43 pharmaceutical libraries in Japan], which is heavily used as an aid for interlibrary loan. In this connection the special features of “Duplication Index” and “Index of Distinctiveness”, which have been introduced in the foregoing issue of this article, are also discussed.

Although the active publication project of national union lists at the National Diet Library is seen as a welcome indication of developing bibliographical control, this must be not at the expense of the National Union Catalog Project. The writer wonders whether the present inactivity concerning National Union Catalog Project in Japan is of temporary or chronic character. Though the writer is quite aware of the fact that no one way is necessarily the best way for maintaining a union catalog, its compilation for efficient use must be a paramount consideration. Long term policy-setting after thorough and considered planning is essential. Steadily watching with a critical eye the growth and use of union catalogs and lists as balanced against the investment is necessary.