In this paper described is how the Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC) became the national standard classification scheme in Japan. In the course of standardization the following three significant events are noticed.
1. The Classification Table of Yamaguchi Prefectural Library was approved as the national standard scheme in 1919.
2. The first edition of the NDC was published in 1929.
3. The Japan Library Association published the 6 th edition of the NDC in 1950.
The future of the NDC is discussed from the following view points: the revision policies for the 8th edition, the relation to the National Diet Library Classification Scheme, and the organization of the continuous revision system in order to maintain the NDC as the national standard sheme. The relationships between the Library of Congress Classification Scheme and the Dewey Decimal Classification are also described.

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Back in 1948, at its establishment, the National Diet Library adopted the Nippon Decimal Classification for its Japanese and Chinese books, and the Dewey Decimal Classification for books in European languages. However, from its experience in subsequent years the NDL found it necessary to compile a new classification system for its own use.
In 1962, a committee was established for developing a new scheme to be used for all materials in the Library, instead of the former two different schemes. The committee has already completed the parts of Social Sciences and Science & Technology, and it is carring on the work for the part of Humanities as of Feb. 1967.
Outline of the NDL Classification is the following:
　A　Politics, Law & Administration.
　B　Parliamentary publications.
　C　Legal materials.
　D　Economics & Industries.
　E　Social Affairs & Labor.
　F　Education.
　G　History & Geography.
　H　Philosophy & Religion.
　K　The Arts, Language & Literature.
M~S　Science & Technology.
　U　Bibliographies, etc.
　W　Rare books.
　Y　Special materials.
　Z　Serial publications.
The special features of the NDL Classification is the following:
　1. It is a system meeting the function and character of the NDL as a large research library, and reflecting the composition of its collections.
　2. It is a scheme to be used for all books and other library resources regardless of language.
　3. It is a scheme to be used mainly for the arrangement of books on the shelves of the Library.
　4. It is non-decimal, and the notation consists of one or two capital letters, combined with numerals 1~999 used arithmetically to denote 999 divisions.
Note: The scheme was completed in Mar. 1967.

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Pattern and procedures of “classification” in library world have come through various changes. Formerly, the word “classification” meant simply compartmentalization, and now the word has come to mean or to be understood by such words as “categorization” “relation indicators” “semantic factoring” etc. Citation order formulae and the so-called APUPA termed by Dr. Ranganathan are certainly the key factors in classifying library materials and their contents and they are indispensable in library world.
However, as far as the other factors are concerned, there are many ambiguous interpretations, partly because of lack of one to one correspondence among worlds of conception, of words, or of signs, and because one expects too easily what is impossible.
The writer intends to enumurate and introduce several devices of subject cataloging systems which have developed in foreign countries since Dewey Decimal Classification and tries to state to which direction this development goes. This writer does not admit any vital difference in any one of these schemes whether it is done by signs or words so long as the one is meant to decide the definite position in the general organization by relativity and extent of similarity.
As to the problems of general versus special classification schemes, the writer thinks that the both are not the kind to stand against each other, but each of them should be used in different ways. Even when a collection puts the emphasis on some specific subject, it is more convenient for the collection to use a general classification scheme as a map or guide post together with minutely classified special classification scheme in particular and specific subjects alone.
When one search materials or trace informations, he has always to meet such problems as serendipity or browsability, and there occurs the necessity of exhaustive acquisition as well as comprehensive storage. To satisfy this purpose, it becomes essential to apply machines for library procedure and it is desirable to study the relation between cost and effect of the machines. However, as to these questions, the reports which is truly objective and relevant are still very scarce in number.

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Increasing university students and the establishments of more universities are the current of the world. The Japanese colleges and universities are no exception. Each college and universities has own history, and its scale or structure is various. We cannot grasp likeness among universities.
It is important to render these universities a library service without the declining of its quality in a period of sudden growth and expansion. Many university librarians consider quality matters more than quantity in the estimating of book collections. The present author regards quantity as serious as quality.
There are five standards for college and junior college libraries in Japan. Those standards use only student body for estimating size of college library collection. College library has an obligation to cater for faculty as well as students. Accordingly, it is not reasonable to estimate the size of book collection based only upon the student body. The quantitative standard of college libraries must be estimated based on the factors; departments of instruction, the course of study, faculty and the student body, etc.
The author tried to find out the formula to estimate the minimum size required for an college library, combinding each factor. The standards for the blueprint of college and university libraries should be revised according to needs of the times. College librarians should show the satisfactory standards of quantity for accrediting agency and appropriating authorities.

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This paper describes some characteristics of school libraries in England and Wales from the view point of cultural and educational traditions. The present state of school libraries is compared with that of the United States. Contrary to the case of the United States, 1) the concept of school libraries as materials centers is not firmly established, 2) the teacher-librarian system is more favorably supported than the school-librarian system, and 3) the public libraries have an intimate relation to the school libraries. These came mostly from the “grammar school tradition”. Since the 16th century books have been used extensively for the grammar school education, and such a tradition has fostered an educational view which favors books much more than other non-book communication media.

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It was not until after 1954 that the arrangement of modern documents pertaining to the local history of the common people was started by library science. The Ministry of Education’s Library of Archives, the Matsumoto Municipal Museum and Tenri Central Library, plus still others began working of this arrangement, but this has not yet spread on to a national level. To enact a national standard in this work in the future, it will be absolutely necessary for scholars of historical science and for librarians to have a co-operative attitude. It is my fervent wish that this will be realized.
I wrote “Theory and Practice of the arrangement of Modern Documents” for this Journal in 1956. After spending ten years systematically revising these documents, it was my privilege to have this revised article printed, here in this journal for critical review from my fellow librarians.
The contents of the following article parallels in proper sequence the systematic revisions which were made in the revised article, problems which may arise from this revised article will be handled accordingly and any necessary revisions will be made and publishes in journals related to library science.
(1967, 7 March)

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