Annals of Ubrary Science and Documentation 1990,37(4), 125-132

AWARENESS, ACQUISITION AND UTILISATION OFJAPANESE SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL INFORMATIONIN USA AND EUROPE

The paper discusses the current trends in theacquisition and utilisation of Japanesescientific and technical information in USA and .Europe, the problems faced by them in itsacquisition and utilisation and the roleplayedbyJapan in the intemationalisation of Japaneseinformation. It also gives a brief account ofIndian scene of Japanese information.

INTRODUCI10N

After World War II, Japan has brought abouttechnological revolutions in heavy andchemical industry, ship building, automobiles,electronics, ma ter ials, biotechnology,computers, etc. [1]. With the introduction ofhigh-tech age, Japanese industries are slowlyveering towards manufacturing goods withhigher unit value, export of technology [2] andproduct innovation [3]. Now Japan is aneconomic superpower with great strength inmanufactured export and one of the World'shighest income levels [4]. Well planned R & Dpolicy has been one of the principal factorsresponsible for Japan's spectacular economicgrowth and revolutionary breakthrough intechnology in the last 40 years. Japanesepostwar R & D policy has been characterisedby the Government's refraining from directinterference and instead offering informationand recommendations to form the guidingprinciples for industrial development [5].Obviously, the World has been looking formore and more information on Japan'sscientific and technical achievements. Here, itis inte-nded to analyse "the awareness,acquisition and utilisation of Japanesescientific & technical information (hereafterreferred to as Japanese information) in USA

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and Europe so as to give a brief account on thissubject to Indian information scientists,managers and users.

AWARENESS OF JAPANESE INFORMA-TION IN USA AND EUROPE

Western countries have been paying dueattention to and reporting on Japaneseinformation. According to Gibson and Kunkel[6], a vast Japanese information is reported inperiodicals and technical reports. Theyobserved that Japanese scientific andtechnical periodical literature is virtuallyinaccessible to western researchers andscientists unless it is indexed or abstracted bywestern indexing and abstracting services andonly less than 20% of it is being covered bythese services. They also observed that of the75% that is written in Japanese, only 7% iscovered. As there is no central service forgathering or disseminating technical reports inJapan and no abstracting or indexing servicecovers them comprehensively, they found itdifficult to analyse the quality and quantity ofthis type of literature. Galinski [7] analysedthe information flow between Europe andJapan and reported that the number ofscientists in Europe with the knowledge ofJapanese to evaluate Japanese information isso insufficient that there is an informationdeficit of 1:15 to the disadvantage of Europe.Togawa [8), after examining the trends ininformation processing in the Netherlands,calls for the revival of previous cooperationbetween the Neitherlands and Japan.According to Smith et al [9), although anawareness of the need to monitor Japaneseliterature is growing, a significant amount of

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Japanese scientific, technical and commercialliterature is still largely underused, thedemand is biased towards journals with somelevel of English language information and theJapanese journals seeking to expand theirrelationship worldwide would need to increasetheir English language content, preferably toinclude English language articles or at leastEnglish abstracts.

In order to streamline the collection,management and utilisation of Japaneseinformation, the British Library organised sixseminars in 1980's and created the JapaneseInformation Service (JIS)section in May 1985.In the United States, several organisations(MIT, Smithsonian Institute,Office of theNaval Research, etc.) organised six seminarsand workshops on Japanese information from1983 to 1986. Subsequently, the firstInternational Conference on JapaneseInformation in Science, Technology andCommerce was organised in September 1987in Warwick, UK by the lIS Section of theBritish Library and the University of WarwickJapanese Business Policy Unit with thesupport of NTIS (National TechnicalInformation Service) and JICST (JapaneseInformation Centre for Science andTechnology) [10] and the second conferenceon the same topic was organised inOctober1989 in Berlin, West Germany by theGesellschaft fuer MathematikundDatenverarbeitung, Japanisch DeutschesZentrum Berlin and StaatsbibliothekPreussischer Kulturbesitz [11]. The first andthe second conferences were attended by 194.and 150 participants respectively from theGovernment Agencies, Information ServiceAgencies, Libraries, Universities, Consultants,Industrial Information Groups, etc. from US,UK, Germany, France, etc. In both theconferences, an exhibition was set up near themeeting place so as to demonstrate variousinformation services and exhibit theinformation products.

ACQUISITION, UTILISATION ANDEVALUATION OF JAPANESE INFORM-ATION

In view of the scope of this paper, theacquisition and utilisation of Japanese

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information in Europe and USA, variousproblems faced by the western countries in theacquisition and utilisation of Japaneseinformation and the role played by Japan inthe internationalisation of Japaneseinformation will be highlighted here.

The US Policy and Programmes with regard tothe Acquisition, Utilisation and Evaluation ofJapanese InformationIn the Warwick Conference, it was reportedthat the US Government had started thecollection of Japanese information in thelatter half of 1970's. NTIS established contactswith JICST and the National Diet Library forthe acquisition of information and in 1981posted a representative in Tokyo for thecollection of reports from the Governmentand private industrial R & D institutions fortheir own databases. These efforts wereappreciated particularly in the light of thecrisis caused by the striking fall in thecompetitive power of the American Industrybecause of the increasing trade deficit againstJapan on the invasion of Japanese electronicgoods and automobiles in the US.

Therefore, NTIS was directed to carry out fullscale collection, evaluation and translation ofJapanese documents, and budget of theNational Science Foundation (NSF) for theexecution of the US-Japan ResearchCooperation Plan was doubled in 1987. InBerlin Conference, it was reported that theUS policy indicated intensification of variousactivities, discussed in the WarwickConference, for the acquisition and utilisationof Japanese information.

US Programmes for the acquisition andutilisation of Japanese information are givenbelow.

(i) NTIS Acquisition Programme : TheProgramme, started in 1981, is beingcoordinated by the NTIS representativepermanently posted in the Mitsubishi SogoKenkyujo, Tokyo. Its results are reflected bythe increase in the number of Japanesedocuments inputted in the NTIS/GRADatabase. However, the facilities in US fortranslating the primary Japanese documents,received under this programme, into English

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JAPANESE SCIENTIAC & TECHNICAL INFORMATION

are not adequate. Nevertheless, there is greatdemand in US for these translations.

(ii) Japanese Technical InformationResearch Service: George Mason University,Fairfax, Virginia, in collaboration with NTISstarted this service in September 1986, withthe support of NSF, US-Japan FriendshipAssociation etc.

(iii) Japanese Technology EvaluationProgramme: NTIS and NSF entrusted thisprogramme in 1984 to the Consultant Co.,Santiago, California. New Materials,Computer Science, Mecatronics,Biotechnology, Telecommun- ication andMicroelectronics have already been evaluatedunder this programme. Moreover, a largenumber of American scholars andtechnologists visit Japan for collectingJapanese information.

(iv) Japan Initiative: NSF started thisprogramme in 1980 so as to send researchscholars and language trainees to JapaneseUniversities and Government and privateresearch institutions for undergoing morethan six months training. In 1988, 30 personswere sent under this programme.

In addition to these programmes, variousGovernment and private agencies arecontributing to this activity in several ways.For example, under the "Japan TechnicalLiterature Act" enforced in 1987, The JapanTechnical Literature Office, Department ofCommerce, is controlling the acquisitionandmonitoring of Japanese information in the US.The American Board of Trade, located inJapan, constituted the High-Tech Committeein 1983 so as to monitor the Japanesetechnological developments. AmericanElectronics Association and Motor andEquipment Manufacturers Associationestablished their offices in Tokyo for theacq uisition of Japanese information.Semiconductor Research Corporation andMicroelectronics and Computer TechnologyCorporation have also started the acquisitionand evaluation of Japanese information".National Academy of Science andEngineering established the office of JapanAffairs so as to promote cooperation between

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the academic bodies of the two countries inthe utilisation of Japanese information.

Acquisition and Utilisation of JapaneseInformation in EuropeIn UK, the British Library is responsible forthe acquisition and dissemination of Japaneseinformation. Its Document Supply Centre(DSC) receives 4,000 Japanese periodicalsand has the collection of more than7,OOOJapanese conference proceedings, reports,etc. Its JIS Section provides the Japaneseinformation service in the form of documentsupply, reference service, onlineservice,referral service, current awarenessservice, organisation of seminars andconferences, etc. (12]. For these services, theJIS uses the Japanese material procured atDSC and Japanese, American and Europeandatabases. The survey of demand for Japanesescientific and technical serial literature,conducted by the DSC of the British Libraryfrom 23rd September to 4th October 1985,revealed that, during this two week period, thetotal number of requests for Japanese serialliterature was 1865, of which 704 came fromoverseas. This is approximately equivalenttoan annual demand of 52,000 requests or 2.5%of the total demand for serials at DSC. A totalof 562 different periodicals were requestedduring the two-week period which indicates alarge number of unused Japanese periodicals.

In Germany,Universitaetsbibliothek derTechnische Universitaetund TechnischeInformationsbibliothek, Hannover isrecognised as centre for the acquisition anddissemination of Japanese information.Besides that, Zentralbibliothek der Medizin,Cologne, Dokumentationsstelle fuerAgrarpolitik, Landwirtschaft, Markt-wesenund Landische Sozio logie, Bonn, Bibliothekdes Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft anderUniversitaet Kiel und Zentralbibliothekder Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Kiel,Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz,Berlin and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,Munich are procuring and disseminatingJapanese information in their respectivefields. Tokyo office of Gesellschaft fuerInformation und Dokumentation (GID),established in 1977, monitors the exchange ofinformation between Germany and J~pan and

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introduces primary and secondary Japaneseinformation sources to German libraries. TheGID Tokyo office receives about 1100requests annually (average of 1983-1986) fromGermany.

In France, Centre Nationale de RechercheScientifique / Centre de Documentation.Scientifique et Technique (CNRS / CDST)established the Japanese Section (CelluleJapon) so as to manage the distribution ofJapanese information within the country bycarrying out online search of nCST databases.The same section is carrying out various otheractivities, such as Q & A, document supply,translation, publication of special Japaneseinformation bulletins, etc. Presently, CDSTlibrary is receiving 600 Japanese periodicals.Recently, they have started procuring theJAPIO (Japanese Patent InformationOrganisation) and Nikkei Needs data. TheCentre d'Etudes des Systemes et desTechnologie Advancees (CESTA) establishedin 1982 is feeding Japanese information to theTELETEL Videotex which disseminates theinformation on advance technologies throughpublic telephone network. This service,known as CESTEL, contains five files namely"EUREKA", "Crystel" and "DIDACTEI.:'.The "Japan Weekly" is prepared by directlyprocuring the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, etc.,extracting the relevant information and data,compiling them in French and then makingvideotext films.

Re alis ing the fact that there is a lot ofJapanese information that is not being used inEurope due to the language barrier andvarious other problems, the Japan-InfoProject was startedin1986 [13]. This projectfinanced from the budget of the MultilingualAction Programme, General Directorate 13,EEC, was taken on experimental basis for oneyear (from November 1986 to October 1987).

PROBLEMS IN ACQUISITION ANDUTILISATION OF JAPANESE INFORM-ATION

Problems in acquisition and utilisation ofJapanese information highlighted in theWarwick Conference can be discussed underthe headings : language barrier, problems oftranslation, Japanese language training and

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personnel exchange programmes, preparationand use of secondary information sources,supply of primary documents, and use ofJapanese databases.

It is recognised that, when foreigners try toaccess Japanese information, one of the

. problems they face is language barrier. Thisfact is further supported by the results 'of thesurvey of demand for Japanese scientific andtechnical serial literature conducted by theBritish Library mentioned earlier. The surveyindicated that the demand is biased towardsjournals with some level of English languageinformation. It has also been reported thateven when Japanese scientists publish theirwork in western publications, they mostly citethe works published in Japanese language as aresult of which the western users of Japaneseinformation find it difficult to make use ofthese citations. Moreover,' Japanese authorspublish very little in English in the fields ofadministration, business, and technology.Therefore, it was voiced that publication ofJapanese works accompanied by Englishsummary and secondary journals containingabstracts of Japanese papers, reports, etc.should be encouraged.

Some of the typical problems related totranslation are as follows. It is difficult toidentify the romanised titles; as translation oftitles of proceedings, etc. is incorrect , it isimpossible to evaluate their contents; aslocation of English summary in Japanesepublications is different from that in Englishpublications , it is difficult (for those whocannot read Japanese) to identify it with theoriginal paper; romanisation of the termsgiven in Katakana makes their identificationwith the original language impossible, and thenumber of Japanese translators with goodscientific and technical background is verysmall. Therefore, it was voiced to expedite thea p p l ic a t ions of machine translation.Moreover, it has been feared that acquisitionof Japanese information on the basis oftranslations only may be risky, because theuser may not be able to evaluate the contentsof the translated Japanese document anddirect translations do not communicate themessage hidden in the style of writing andconversation.

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In view of the language barrier and-problemsof translation, the attention was focussed onJapanese language training and personnelexchange programmes. It was observed thatthe existing Japanese language trainingprogrammes were biased towards Orientalculture and fine arts and the beginning hadjust been made to organise the languagetraining programmes required for promotingacquisition and utilisation of Japanesescientific, technical and commercialinformation. It was also voiced that morescience and engineering graduates,particularly in the younger age group, shouldbe recruited and motivated for going toJapanese research institutions and industrialunits for undergoing language training underthe conditions prevailing for Japanesestudents/trainees themselves. It was reportedthat, although Japan has offered ampleopportunities to American scientists,technicians and engineering graduates forundergoing the required training in Japanunder different exchange programmes, it hasbeen difficult to find sufficient number ofpersons fulfilling the prerequisites (theresearch theme suitable for their induction inJapanese institutions and their Japaneselanguage background) of these exchangeprogrammes.

It was reported that over the years big librariesin each country have raised 'a very goodcollection of Japanese documents, but theaccess to the information contained in thesedocuments for practical use is not easybecause of inadequate preparation andcirculation of secondary Japanese informationsources and databases. Precisely, as reportedin the Warwick Conference, the secondaryinformation service (including secondaryinformation databases) covering Japanesegray literature had been delayed, there was noabstracting service covering Japanesecommercial information and the number ofJapanese business journals covered byABI/INFORM and PTS PROMT was verysmall. Consequently, they face difficulties inprocuring the Japanese Industrial Standards,pharmaceutical literature, trade informationcovered by business magazines, statistical dataof Government Departments released in theform of pamphlets and annual reports of the

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unlisted industial units. The need for accessingJapanese secondary information databases (inJapanese language) was also highlighted.

The Western countries, which took lead in thedevelopment of online databases, haveidentified a number of problems which theyface in accessing -Japanese scientific,technical and business databases. Forexample, the development of gray literaturedatabases in Japan is quite late, There isalmost no database on technical reports,memoirs, theses and business documents as aresult of which their access is very difficult.There is a lot of overlapping in between theexisting European and American databasesand newly developed Japanese technicalinformation databases. As Katakana portionin the JAPIO databases being offered inEnglish by Japan is romanised, it becomesimpossible to find out spellings of the originalterms. As the hardware with Kana-Kanjioptions, which is ipdispensable for using thedatabases in Japanese language, is not sold outof Japan, its procurement is difficult. Use ofthe databases in Japanese language poses theproblem of the mixed code system for Englishalphabets, Katakana and Kanji. If Japanesemachines are imported for using the databasesin Japanese language, their (of Japanesemachines) maintenance becomes a problem.Besides that there are a number of problemslike the need for the development of aninterface for making the Japanese computerhardware and software compatible to theforeign systems, finding out solution to theproblems related to the accessing of Japanesedatabases on Japanese network throughInternational Telecommunication system, etc.

JAPAN'S ROLE IN THE INTERNATION-ALISATION OF JAPANESE INFORM-ATION

In order to meet the demand for Japaneseinformation in the Western World and extendcooperation in finding out the solutions to theproblems discussed in previous section,various Japanese information organisationssuch as JICST, JAPIO, Gakujutsu Joho Senta(Technical Information Centre), the NationalDiet Library, etc. have been working for theinternationalisation of Japanese information

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[11], [14], [15]. A brief account of some of theimportant services offered by theseorganisations and reported in the BerlinConference is given below.

JICST is offering the English Database(JICST - E File) service through STNInternational and JOIS, promoting thedistri~ution o~ gr?y literature, bringing outEnglish publications and developing themachine translation system. The nCST - EFile is being expanded and updated every year.In 1988, it covered about 81.5% documentsproduced in Japan and 24,000 English articles(about 12% of nCST - E File) and containedEnglish abstracts constituting about 31.5% ofits total content. In 1989, nCST startedtr~ns~ating rel~vant portions of its JapaneseFIle mto English and merging the translatedportion into the nCST - E File. In order topromote the distribution of gray literature,nCST collects the information on relevantdocuments and puts into the JICST - E File. Itconstitutes about 40% of the English File. TheEnglish publications brought out by by nCSTare: Current Science and Technical Researchin Japan, Electronics and Communications inJapa~; Energy Technology in Japan, nCSTEngli-h Version Thesaurus, 1987 and nCSTClassification Table 1987. In 1989, the nCSTMachine Translation System containedabout3,000 grammar rules, the translationdictionary consisting of about 3,00,000 termsand 100 abstracts for evaluation.

JAPIO is supporting the Patent Abstracts ofJapan (PAJ), world Patent Index (WPI) andInternational Patent Documentation(INPADOC) so as to promote thedissemination of Japanese patent informationin English. PAJ Online Service is being offeredin the form of JAPIO file through PergamonOrbit Infoline. The WPI, producedbyDerwent, includes every week about 4,800records on Japanese patents received throughPAJ. It can be accessed through Dialog.Pergamon Orbit and Telesystem - Questel.

!he Technical Information Centre is offeringIts databases to USA through a privatecommunication line set up between this centreand NSF. It proposes to offer the similarservice to UK, through British Library and toother European countries through their

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respective information centres. The NationalDiet Library, with the rich collection of booksjournals, Government publications theses', ,conference proceedings, etc. provides variousservices to users like reading, documentsupply, indirect lending, reference service, etc.within as well as outside Japan.

Besides that, a number of database producersand d is tr ib ut ors are supporting theinternationalisation of Japanese databases.According to the Ministry of International!rade and Industry (MIT!) Database Register,10 1982 there were only 122 Japanesedatabases. By 1988, their number increased to528 which constitute about 26.9% of the totalnumber of databases (1964) being accessed inJapan. As regards the internationalisation ofJapanese databases, in 1987, only 28 Japanesedatabases could be accessed from othercountries. By 1989, this number increased to104.

INDIAN SCENE

There has been considerable awareness of!apanes~ info~mation in india too. As early as10 1970 s India had a reasonable translationp~te~t.ial to pro,,:ide Japanese-Englishscientific and technical translation service toNSF after meeting the domestic demand to aconsiderable extent. In order to assess thedemand for scientific and technical translationin India, Indian Scientific TranslatorsAssociation (ISTA) conducted the NationalSurvey in 1980 with the support of DST(Department of Science and Technology) [16].In 19~0, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)organised a workshop in collaboration withDS-r: i~vit.ing scientists, language experts,specialists 10 documentation and translation tofocus their attention on the problems andprospects of scientific translation fromJapanese [17] and in 1988, the MonbushoScholars Association of India (MOSAI), JNUand NISTADS (National Institute of Science,Technology & Development Studies)organised. th

, JAPANESE SCIENTIAC & TECHNICAL INFORMATION

between the Government of Japan- and theGovernment of India for Cooperation inScience & Technology signed in 1985, theIndia-Japan Joint Committee periodicallyreviews the exchange programmes and givesappropriate recommendations for furtheraction. Some of the areas for cooperationidentified by the joint committee are:

(i) disaster prediction and preventionincluding earthquakes, cyclones andfloods;

(ii) weather pridiction and monsoonresearch;

(iii) tissue culture;

(iv) vaccines and immunodiagnostics;

(v) research on standards;

(vi) recycling technologies;

(vii) assessment of technology for air andwater pollution;

(viii) material research; and

(ix) studies on genetic resources [18].

India is quite conscious of the revolutionarychanges' taking place both in technologyinformation as well as in informationtechnology and of the importance of Japaneseinformation and poised for keeping pace withthe latest developments in these fields. Recenttrends in the development of indigenousdatabases so as to meet our domestic demandand reduce dependence on foreign databasesto the extent it is possible and establishment of(TIFAC) Technology Information Forecastingand Assessment Council are indicative of it.Therefore, it may be quite appropriate to lookinto the experiences of the Western World andderive the points relevant to our planning andimplementation of the policy on theacquisition and utilisation of Japaneseinformation.

CONCLUSION

Analysis of the awareness, acquisition andutilisation of Japanese information in USAand Europe leads to the following conclusions.

Vol 37 -No 4 December 1990

(i) The Western World is poised to collectevery bit of Japanese information so as tokeep p.ace with the technologicaldevolopments in Japan.

(ii) Both USA and Europe have launched anumber of programmes for theacquisition of Japanese information,particularly the gray literature.

(iii) Japan is also promoting the internationa-lisation of Japanese information byincreasing English content in theirprimary and secondary publications anddatabases and developing theJapanese-English machine translationsystem.

(iv) There is shortage of trained scientificand technical manpower, both in USAand Europe, required for handlingJapanese information.

(v) The other problems faced by the WesternWorld in accessing Japanese informationinclude the non-availability of Japanesehardware and software necessary foraccessing Japanese databases.

(vi) Recent efforts made by USA, Europeand Japan have improved the flow ofJapanese information to the WesternWorld. The number of Japanesedatabases accessible from othercountries has increased from 28 in 1987to 104 in 1989.

(vii) There has been considerable awarenessof Japanese information in India too.

REFERENCES

1. Industrial Japan'Sl , Far Eastern EconomicReview, December 4,1981,46-78.

»» 2. Chaudhuri S K : Current trends injapanese industries and India. JapanEconomic Report, 1987, 1 (2), 12-13,46

3. Tsuchiya M : From process innovation toproduct innovation. Japan EconomicReport, 1989, (8),29-34.

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4. Nakamura T: An economic history of theShowa Era. Japan Economic Report, 1989,(9),3-17.

5. Kodama F : Charting a policy on R & D.Ibid, 30-32.

6. Gibson R W Jrand Kunkel B K: Japaneseinformationnetwork and bibliographiccontrol - Scientific and TechnicalLiterature.Special Lib, 1980, March,154-162.

7. Galinski: The information flow betweenJapan and Europe. Nachrichten fuerDokumentation, 1984,35 (3), 152-158

8. Togawa A : On the trends in informationprocessing in the Netherlands. JohoKanri, 1984,27 (2), 142-158.

9. Smith B, King S V and Stewart I :Surveyof demand for Japanese scientific andtechnical serial literature. Interlendingand Document Supply, 1987, 15 (4),111-117.

10. Miyakawa T, Miwa M and Kanda T :Acquisition and utilisation of Japaneseinformation in science, technology andcommerce in Europe and USA - Reporton the International Conference onJapanese Information at the University ofWarwick. Joho Kanri, 1987. 30 (9),769-783.

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11. Miyakawa T, Miwa M and Obara M :Collection and utilisation of Japanesescientific and technological informationin Europe and USA - Report on the BerlinConference 1989. Joho Kanri, 1990,32(10),871-887,

12. King S Vand Nagano Y :The BritishLibrary Japanese Information Service inscience, technology and commerce. Johono Kagaku to Gijutsu, 1987,37 (7),275-282.

13. Ichikawa Y : Acquisition of Japaneseinformation on high technology forcommission of the EuropeanCommunities,Joho no Kagaku to Gijutsu,1988,31 (1),29-31.

14. Kanda T : Overseas services of Japanesescientific and technical information bynCST. Joho no Kagaku to Gijutsu, 1988,38 (1), 13-23.

15. Overseas services of Japanese patentinformation by JAPIO. Joho no Kagaku toGijutsu, 1988,38 (1), 24-28.

16. National survey of translation needs ofIndia, DST, 1982.

17. Japanese scientific literature - Problems &Prospects of Translation, JNU. 1982.

18. Background Document on Conference onIndo-Japan Cooperation, MOSAI, March,1988.

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