How to use this Database
Index
- Search Functions and the Transition of Screens
- About the Viewer
- How to print out digitized materials
1. Search Functions and the Transition of Screens
1-0．Overview
The National Diet Library Digital Collections provides Keyword Search, Advanced Search etc.
1-1．Keyword Search
Enter one or more keywords in Japanese characters in the search box.
When entering more than one keyword, separate the words by a space. Any word from the title, the table of contents, or the description as well as the names of the creator or publisher can be used as keywords. Bibliographic ID (*), Persistent ID (**),ISBN and ISSN can also be keywords. You can search keywords in text by checking the "Full text" checkbox.
*A Bibliographic ID is an identifier given to each bibliographic record that can be searched for in The National Diet Library Online Search and Request Service (NDL Online).
**A persistent identifier is an identifier given to each title, in the form of "info:ndljp/pid/{NUMBER}". NUMBER can also be used as a keyword by itself.
Target of full text search
- Text data of electronic files collected as online publications or doctoral dissertations
- Text data of digitized contents (some books, magazines, etc.) generated for search through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) processing
*The text data of digitized content generated for search through OCR processing has not been corrected and may have some characters which are inaccurate. You cannot download this data.
You can search targeted materials by access restrictions with checking the checkboxes, "Available Online" ,“Available only at the NDL and partner libraries" and "Available only at the NDL". If you are interested in all titles, please select all checkbox.
Access Restrictions
For more information, please refer to About the National Diet Library Digital Collections > About Access Restrictions.- Available Online: online available
- Available only at the NDL and its partner libraries or to official registered users in Japan: available only within the facilities of the NDL and on the site of the partner libraries and via the Internet from device such as smartphones or personal computers of official registered users who have agreed to the terms of service
- Available only at the NDL: available only within the facilities of the NDL
*About Historical Recordings, you can listen to all recordings (included NDL only tag recordings) in the participating libraries of the Historical Recordings Streaming Service to Libraries.
You can restrict the search range to a specific collection by selecting a collection from the pull-down menu.
If more than one keyword is entered, the search results will be a list of items which contain all the keywords at some place in their metadata. Keyword(s) will be highlighted in the results.
In the "Search Results," different volumes of the same periodical will be listed if the item contains the keyword in the title, the publisher name etc. Please click on "Aggregate items of the same title" from the left column, to curtail individual volume data.
1-2．Advanced Search
The advanced search interface will be opened if you click on "Advanced Search" on the right side of keyword search box.
Please choose the material type from the menu bar at the top, and then specify the search parameters. Different material types have different parameter sets.
If you choose "ALL", you can search by parameters explained below.
| No. | Tab | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Access Restrictions | You can search targeted materials by access restrictions with checking the checkboxes.
|
| 2 | Material Type | A required field. Check the boxes of the material type you want to search in. |
| 3 | Keyword | Enter a keyword in Japanese characters. You can search by any word(s) in the title, the table of contents, the description, analyses, transcription or the names of the creator and/or publisher. You can search keywords in text by checking the "Full text" checkbox. For more information on full text search, please refer to " Target of full text search "in 1-1. |
| 4 | Title | Enter the title you are searching for. |
| 5 | Table of Contents | Enter the word(s) which can be included in the table of contents. |
| 6 | Creator | Enter the names of the creators (authors, editors, performers etc.) of the content. Click on the "Author List" to see a creator list. |
| 7 | Publication Place | Enter the place of publication. |
| 8 | Publisher | Enter the personal or corporate name of the publisher. |
| 9 | Publication Date | Enter the year, month, date of publication. You can leave month and day parameters empty. You can search by specifying the exact date or a range. |
| 10 | Subject | Enter the subject of the item you are searching for. |
| 11 | NDC | Enter a Nippon Decimal Classification code. You can select the code from the list. More than one NDC code can be specified by clicking on "Add". |
| 12 | NDLC | Enter a National Diet Library Classification code. |
| 13 | Provider | Enter a provider code (Applicable only when searching Online Publications). You can select the code from the list. More than one provider code can be specified by clicking on "Add". |
| 14 | Identifiers |
|
| 15 | Call Number | Call numbers to locate the physical copy held in the NDL. |
| 16 | Journal Title | Enter the journal title in which the article you are searching for would be contained. |
| 17 | Journal Volume | Enter the journal volume in which the article you are searching for would be contained. |
| 18 | Bibliographic Level | You can specify the bibliographic level of the item you are searching for. |
| 19 | Language | Specify the language used in the item by entering the language code. You can choose from the list. You can enter more than one value. |
| 20 | Results Sorted By |
|
| 21 | Boolean Operators (parameters within a field) | Choose "AND" or "OR". |
| 22 | Boolean Operators (parameters of different fields) | Choose "AND" or "OR". |
| 23 | Search | Click to execute the advanced search. If any of the required fields are missing parameters, an error message will be shown. |
| 24 | Clear | Reset all the parameters and go back to the initial settings. |
1-3．Search Tips
（１）Normalization of Characters
- This system does not distinguish between the following:
- Alphabet (Upper/Lower cases, Full-/Half- width)
- Numbers (Full-/Half- width)
- Variants of Chinese Characters (example: 竜 or 龍)
- Hiragana/Katakana: Search results will be the same if you enter a keyword in Hiragana or in Katakana.
- Yo-on(Contracted sound)/Soku-on(Choked Sound): Upper case "や", "ゆ","よ", "つ" and lower case "ゃ", "ゅ", "ょ", "っ" are recognized as the same letter.
- This system does not recognize the following characters.
- ＜Half-width Characters＞
- !?=^_#$&~|,/"()[]<>{}:;*.'`+\
- ＜Full-width Characters＞
- 、。，．・: ；？！゛゜´｀¨＾￣＿／＼～∥∥…‥‘’“”
（）〔〕［］｛｝〈〉《》「」『』【】＋－±×÷＝≠＜＞≦≧
∞∴♂♀°′″￥＄￠￡＃＆＊§☆★○●◎◇◆□■△▲▽▼※
〒→←↑↓∈∋⊆⊇⊂⊃∪∩∧∨￢⇒⇔∀∃∠⊥⌒∂∇≡≒≪≫
√∽∝∵∫∬ʼn♯♭♪†‡¶◯─│┌┐┘└├┬┤┴┼━┃┏
┓┛┗┣┳┫┻╋┠┯┨┷┿┝┰┥┸╂
（２）Left side Match / Exact Match / Phrase Match search
These functions are only available in the fields "Title", "Creator", and "Publisher".
- Left side Match Search
Please enter "/" before the keyword.
Example: When you enter "/図書館", the results will be the titles which begin with "図書館" such as "図書館","図書館の歴史" , and "図書館学概論".- Exact Match Search
Please enter "/" before and after the keyword.
If the keyword has a space, please enter "/" and """ before and after the keyword.
Example: When you enter "/図書館/", the results will be items titled exactly "図書館".
Example: When you enter "/"National Diet Library"/", the results will be items titled exactly "National Diet Library".- Phrase Match Search
Please put a phrase in double quotations "".
Example: When "library work" is entered, the result includes titles such as "the library work", but excludes "work in library" etc.（３）Specification of the Publication Year of Rare books and Old items by Japanese Era Name （Gengo, 元号）before Meiji
Enter the era name in the keyword field of the Advanced Search of the Rare books and Old items.
Example: When "慶應" is entered in the keyword field, the results will include titles published in the 慶應年間 (Keio period, 1865-1868).
1-4．Other Search Functions
(1)Collection Search
The collection search interface will be opened if you click on "List" link on top page. First, select the target group from "Digitized Contents" and "Online publications". (See below)
If you choose "Digitized Contents", you will see a list of material types on the left. Three numbers in brackets separated by /, following the names of each material type. The number on the left is the quantity of items available online, the number on the middle is the quantity of items Available only at the NDL and its partner libraries or to official registered users in Japan , the number on the right is the quantity of the all digitized items. Please click on the number to browse.
If you click the triangle to the left of the category, you can display its sub-collections.Example: To search Nishiki-e which are available online, please click on the number on the left.
(2)Theme Search
The "Theme Search" can be opened by clicking on "here".
Contents are categorized according to the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC).
You will see three numbers in brackets separated by /, following the names of each material type. The number on the left is the quantity of items available online, the number on the middle is the quantity of items Available only at the NDL and its partner libraries or to official registered users in Japan, the number on the right is the quantity of the all digitized items within the material type. Please click on the number to browse.
If you click the triangle on the left of the category, you can see its sub-categories.Example: If you want to browse the titles included in the classification "2 General History" that are available online, please click on the number on the left.
(3)One-click Search
The National Diet Library Digital Collections can be searched with a single click (in Japanese).
2. About the Viewer
2-1．Search Results
In the Search Results, up to 3,000 records will be shown per one search. If more than 3,000 records are hit, please refine the results using the facets in the left-hand column.
Table2 Explanation of Search Results Viewer No. Tab Explanation 1 Search conditions The search conditions entered to obtain the result list is shown here. 2 Records per Page and Sort Conditions The settings can be changed here. 3 Page Turner The first, previous, next, or last pages can be viewed by clicking on the arrows, and the pages specified by number by clicking on the number. 4 Search Results The hit records are shown in the format below.
Title. Volume number. Collection (Series name) / Creator (Publisher, Publication Date), Carrier Title (for Journals or book Series)
Please click on the title to view the images of the item.
As for periodicals, the search results shows separate records for each volume, and in addition to records of individual volume, a meta-record for all the volumes of the journal is shown.例）
月刊図書館【全号まとめ】 － Metadata of the journal title
月刊図書館.1号 －Metadata of the individual volumes of the journal title
月刊図書館.2号 －Metadata of the individual volumes of the journal title
月刊図書館.3号 －Metadata of the individual volumes of the journal title
If you click on the metadata of the journal title, all the volumes under that title will be shown in a tree. Please select a volume in the tree to see the content.5 Access Restrictions 
- Accessible only on the premises at a NDL facility
* Historical recordings are also accessible on the premises at partner libraries. 
- Accessible only on the premises at NDL facilities or at partner libraries or from device such as smartphones or personal computers of official registered users who have agreed to the terms of service.
- No tag (Available Online)
- Overseas Request for copying
(Not including materials from the Historical Recordings Collection, Science Film, or Online Publications.)
6 Collection the Collection, that the item belong to
About the explanation of each collection, you can read About this database 4. overview of the digital contents of this database.7 IIIF mark This mark is shown when the material conforms to IIIF framework. 8 TOC/volume button When the item has part titles or consists of multiple volumes, "TOC/volume" button will be shown. Click on the button to see the "TOC/volume". (See 14 below) 9 Additional Information If the searched word is found in the table of contents, summaries, analyses, or transcriptions, the containing fields will be shown here with the keywords highlighted. By clicking the arrow mark 
, the found flame or file will be opened. If the searched word is found in more than 4 fields, the list of the containing fields will be opened, by clicking "More" next to the arrow mark.10 Thumbnail(s) Click here to see thumbnails of all the images of the item. 11 "Refine" / "TOC/volume" Choose the method to narrow the range of the results. "Refine" (See 12 and 13 below), or "TOC/volume" (See 14 below). The "TOC/volume" tab will be shown only after clicking on the "TOC/vol." button in the search result (See 8). 12 Refine by Keyword Enter an additional keyword to refine your search. 13 Refine by Facet Refine your search result using the facets "Access Restrictions", "Collection", "Provider", "NDC", and "Publication year". You can also shorten the list by clicking on "Aggregate items of the same title". 14 TOC/volume If the book or rare books contain part information about its content, the table of contents will be shown, so that the relevant part of the item can be accessed.
For periodicals, the volumes under the title will be shown, so that the relevant volume can be accessed.2-2．Content Viewer
The Content Viewer can be used to view materials and their bibliographic information retrieved in search results. The Content Viewer for PC is explained in Section 2-2 below.
The Content Viewer for Tablet/Smartphone opens in full-screen mode. For help operating the Content Viewer for Tablet/Smartphone, please tap anywhere on the viewer screen to display the menu bar, then tap the Instructions icon, which is displayed as a question mark (?).The Content Viewer for PC layout comprises three areas: (a) Bibliographic Information Area, (b) Content Area, and (c) Title Area.
2-2(a)．Bibliographic Information Area
You can see bibliographic information about the item here. Click on the tabs to select the information you want to see from "Analyses"(a-3), "Table of Contents"(a-2), and "Metadata"(a-1). You can change the width of area by dragging the right-edge.
Table3 Explanation on the Bibliographic Information Area No. Tab Explanation a-1 Metadata The metadata of the items is shown here.
- a-1.1: Upper Level Metadata
Upper level metadata is shown here (cf. If you are viewing an article, metadata of the journal that carries the article is shown here.) See also 2-1 (13). - a-1.2: Metadata
The Simple Record View shows;- Persistent ID
- Title (Volume Number)
- Creator
- Publisher
- Publication Date
- Call Number
- Bibliographic ID
- DOI
- Journal Title / Part Of
- ISBN
- ISSN
- Source (URL)
- Access Restrictions
- Note
- IIIF manifest URI
Click on "Detailed Record View" to see all metadata fields.
This database uses DC-NDL, with some additional fields.
- a-1.3: Additional Information about the Content
Shown only when applicable.
a-2 TOC / volume When the item has part titles, the table of contents will be shown. When the item consists of multiple volumes, volume information will be shown. Click on the part title or the volume number to jump to the first page of the part/volume.
a-3 Analysis Some of the Rare Books and Old items have analyses. 2-2(b)．Content Area
Different types of item have different Content Areas. There are three kinds of Content Area, (b-1)Image Viewer、(b-2)File List, (b-3)Media Player.
2-2(b-1)．Image Viewer
The following figure and table explain the functions of the Image Viewer.
Table4 Explanation of the Image Viewer No. Tab Explanation Shortcut Key
*Access Key1 Thumbnail List 20 thumbnails will be shown on one page. Click on a thumbnail or click on the "Thumbnail List" button again to go back to the Image Viewer. T 2 List of frame numbers Select a frame number from the pull-down list to display that frame. 3 Zoom in, zoom out Click either the Zoom In or Zoom Out button to change the magnification. The mouse wheel can also be used to zoom in and out. Zoom In: +
Zoom Out: -4 Fit the size of the image to the viewer size Click this button to fit the image size to the viewer. 5 Rotate Rotate the image clockwise or counterclockwise by 90 degrees. Rotate counter-clockwise: J
Rotate clockwise: K6 Whole Picture This function is available for materials included in the Rare Books and Old Materials Collection when a single image that is a composite of multiple images is available. Click this button to display the whole image. 7 Print/Save Click this button to open the Print/Save dialog.
Use this function to specify the frames you wish to save as a PDF file for printing.
Images may be modified prior to saving in PDF format.*P 8 JPEG View Chose a magnification to display images in JPEG format. 9 All image download A Download All Images button is available when: - You are accessing the NDL Collections via Internet, and
- the Access Restrictions show インターネット公開（保護期間満了）, which indicates that the material is not under copyright protection.
Only one request at a time may be made from a single IP address.
When using this function, it is not possible to modify images before saving.10 Image Quality Adjustment Use this function to modify the quality of the image displayed in the Content Viewer.
* Image quality adjustment for printing is provided in the Print Modification window.
* If you do not see the Image Quality Adjustment Dialog button, please refer to the Recommendations for Optimal Performance and be sure you are using a compliant browser.11 Other Functions - First/Last: Click the First button to view the first frame or the Last button to view the last frame.
- Fit the size of the image to the width of the viewer : Click this button to fit the image to the width of the viewer.
- Overview: Default setting is OFF. Click this button to display an overview of the entire image currently being viewed.
- Home、End
- H
- I
12 URL Click this button to show the URL of the frame currently displayed. *U 13 Full Screen View Maximize the viewer size in your browser.
Click the Full Screen OFF button to return to the previous viewer size.F 14 Select Page Turning Direction Click this button to switch the direction for turning pages. Direction of the arrow showed on the button displays current paging direction.
You can have the frame follow the writing direction of the original material, if you follow the directions below.
If you are reading a material with vertical writing such as traditional Japanese writing, select ←. If you are reading a material with horizontal writing, select →.
Page turning direction are retained after you change the material you are reading.15 Frame Turner Click the arrow heads displayed on either side of the viewer to advance to the next frame or return to the previous one.
Return to the previous frame: Click the arrow head on the left side if the (14) button shows →. When the (14) button shows ←, click the arrow head on the right side.
Advance to the next frame: Click the arrow head on the opposite side to the arrow to return to the previous frame.Previous: The arrow button which turns to the opposite direction of the (14) button shows.
Next: The arrow button which the (14) button shows.16 Viewer When the image displayed is larger than the viewer, press the left mouse button to drag the image to a new position. *The Access Key is indicated by "*".
To use access keys on Windows IE, press "Alt"+ {Access Key}, on Windows FireFox, press "Alt" + "Shift"+ {Access Key}.2-2(b-2)．File List
A file list is displayed when there are materials that include audio, PDF, or formats other than image data.
Table5 Explanation Table of the File List No. Tab Explanation Shortcut Key
*Access Key1 File Number Click on the number to display an individual file, the image viewer, or media player. 2 File Name Click on the file name to download, view, or listen to the file. 3 TOC / volume When the item has part titles, the table of contents will be shown. Click on the part title to jump to an individual file. 4 File List Click this button to switch between displaying a file list and an individual file. T 5 First/Last Click the First button to view the first file or the Last button to view the last file. First:Home
Last:End6 File Turner Click this button to advance to the next file or return to the previous one. 7 List of file numbers Select a file number from the pull-down list to display that file. 8 URL Click this button to show the URL of the file currently displayed. *U 9 Select file Turning Direction Click this button to switch the direction for turning files. Direction of the arrow showed on the button displays current turning direction. *The Access Key is indicated by "*".
To use access keys on Windows IE, press "Alt"+ {Access Key}, on Windows FireFox, press "Alt" + "Shift"+ {Access Key}.2-2(b-3)．Media Player
For audio and video files, a media player is displayed.
Please refer to the following page for recommended operating environment.
Table6 Explanation Table of the Media Player No. Tab Explanation Shortcut Key 1 Play/Pause Use this button to play and pause the sound. The sound is automatically played when the file is first opened. P 2 Stop Click on this button to stop playing. S 3 Frame advance Click on this button to move through the video one frame at a time. Ctrl+→：Frame advance
Ctrl+←：Frame back4 Changing the aspect ratio to 4:3 Click this button to change the aspect ratio to 4:3.
*Changing the aspect ratio sometimes distorts the video images.W 5 Changing the aspect ratio to 16:9 Click this button to change the aspect ratio to 16:9.
*Changing the aspect ratio sometimes distorts the video images.W 6 Sequence Bar Indicate the point of the audio file currently played. Move the bar to jump to a specific point.
You can drag the sequence bar.Shift+→: +10seconds
Shift+←: -10seconds7 Mute The sound can be muted. Click again to reset the mute. M 8 Volume Slider Adjust the volume by moving the bar. ↑: +5%
↓: -5%9 Changing the playback speed Click this button to select a different playback speed. U：+25%
D：-25%
2-2(c)．Title Area
The title of the item is displayed here.
- (1) Click here to return to the Search Results.
- (2) The title of the item shown in "Content Area" is displayed here.
- (3) Depending on the material type, one or more of the following will be displayed.
- Previous Volume, Next Volume
Use these buttons to access the previous and next volumes of a periodical title or book series. This function is available only with titles with relevant metadata.
For Nishiki-e, links to "Previous Item" and "Next Item" will be displayed instead.
- Find other Volumes
Many book series lack metadata to identify the order of the books. In this case, all titles included in the series will be shown by clikcking here.
- Volume List, Article List
These buttons will be displayed when looking at the "Online publications" which have volumes and articles. Please click to access the lists.
3. How to print out digitized materials
3-1．Select images to be printed.
① Click the Print button in the Content Viewer.
② A Print/Save window will open. After specifying “all frames” or the frame numbers to specific individual images, click either the Creating PDF or the Print Adjust button. Click the Creating PDF button to save or print images without modification. (Proceed to step 3-3. Print/Save.) Click the Print Adjust button to open the Print Modification window and adjust the print parameters. (Proceed to step 3-2. Print Modification.)
3-2．The Print Modification window
Use the Print Modification window to adjust print parameters, including rotating the image, cropping the image, and adjusting the brightness or other image properties. You can adjust the parameters for each image individually or use ⑤ Apply Settings to All Frames button to adjust all images at once.
Table6 Explanation of the Print Modification window No. Tab Explanation 1 Instructions Read instructions on how to use the print functions. 2 Frame number Frame numbers are used to identify individual images. You can move the image by selecting the frame number from list box. 3 Change Image (Previous /Next) Click either the Previous or Next button to view either the previous or the next image. 4 Zoom In / Zoom Out Click this button to zoom in or zoom out. Clicking the Undo changes button resets the zoom to 100%.
This operation does not affect the size of the image during printing.5 ① Orientation Click these buttons to rotate the image. - Rotate (counterclockwise): Click this button once to rotate the image counterclockwise by 1 degree.
- Rotate (clockwise): Click this button once to rotate the image clockwise by 1 degrees.
- Rotate the image counterclockwise by 90 degrees: Click this button once to rotate the image counterclockwise by 90 degrees.
- Rotate the image clockwise by 90 degrees: Click this button once to rotate the image clockwise by 90 degrees.
6 ② Cropping Click this button to crop the image. When you want to print a part of an image (for example, you want to delete the margins), click the button "Set the frame" and drag your mouse to frame the desired section with the red line, then click the "Confirm" button. 7 ③ Convert to Monochrome/Converted to Monochrome Click this button to convert a color image to monochrome. After converting, this button changes to read “Converted to Monochrome”. Click the Undo changes button to revert to a color image. 8 ④ Image Quality Adjustment (Brightness, etc.) Click this button to adjust the print parameters for the image, including auto-adjust or manual settings for brightness, gamma correction, and contrast.
Here are some tips on how to improve image quality using the manual settings.[Tips for adjusting image quality]
- If the image is light, increase contrast or decrease gamma.
- If the image is much too light, decrease gamma.
- If the image is dark, increase contrast or increase gamma.
- If the image shows through to the back, increase contrast.
9 ⑤ Apply Settings to All Pages Orientation, Cropping and Image Quality Adjustment will be applied to all frames. Be sure to review the appearance of all images before clicking ⑥ Print (Create PDF) button. You can also adjust the print parameters of images individually. 10 ⑥ Print (Create PDF) Click this button to create a PDF file for printing with the current print parameters in effect. (Orientation, Cropping and Image Quality Adjustment) 11 Reset All Settings for All Pages Click this button to revert all parameters (Orientation, Cropping and Image Quality Adjustment) to their default settings for all pages. 12 Cancel (Back to the Viewer) Click the Cancel button to close the Print Modification window and return to the content viewer. 13 Window to show the adjusted image This window displays the image based on the current print parameters. (Orientation, Cropping and Image Quality Adjustment).
3-3．Print/Save
Please print the images in PDF format by using a web browser, PDF viewer, or other suitable software. The procedure to save, open, and print PDF files varies according to the software you use.
[Reference] Frequently Asked Questions: I wish to save PDF files, but they open by default. Can you improve this function?
- Exact Match Search