The first protein database was founded in 1965, followed by the establishment of nucleic acid databases from 1971. Presently there are six major sequence databases, located in Japan, USA and the FRG-three for protein data and three for nucleic acid data. International cooperation between the protein databases and between the nucleic acid databases have greatly facilitated compilation and dissemination of data. Coordination between these protein and nucleic acid databases have progressed with the support of the CODATA Task Group and the International Advisory Board for Nucleic Acid Databases. In the protein field, several additional database activities are initiated to contribute to protein engineering and structure-activity relationships.
Various kinds of databases are considered to be essential part in future large sized systems. Information provision only by databases is also considered to be growing as the market becomes mature. This paper discusses how such circumstances have been built and will be developed from now on.
The Linked Systems Project (LSP) is the first network project based on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) in the world. The purpose of the project is to interconnect between three major bibliographic utilities and LC, and to perform as one system on the whole. The first application developed for the LSP is the sharing of name authority data based on the Name Authority Cooperative (NACO) Project. In 1985, LC began to send name authority records to RLG/RLIN. Since 1987, RLG/RLIN and OCLC send name authority records to LC. Bibliographic records will be sent mutually between three major bibliographic utilities and LC near future.
Informationalization in Japan has spread among various fields of industrial and social life in wide and depth by drastic advancement in technology and networking. Looking at the change in industrial structure as well as international trend in information the Japanese Government regards the role of information and communication technology as infrastructure to be important, and is under the way of constructing various measures with ministries and agencies concerned with them. This paper describes how administrative agencies involved in information and communication such as Ministry of Postal Services, Ministry of International Trade and Industry cope with informationalization, and mentions future direction in information policies.