THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

Moniteur beige as a form of simple registration. The OIB
took each of these notices from the Moniteur beige, classified
it, and every fortnight published a collection of notices thus
obtained in a Repertoire des brevets d'invention delivres en
Belgique, described as a separately printed extract of the
Journal des brevets. 20 The notice for each patent contained
only its registration number at the State Patent Office, the
name of the inventor, its title and a classification number.
The classification was made by A. Louis Vermandel, the
editor of Index de la presse technique, or Bibliographia Technica.
The Repertory of Patents was seen as «part of the whole
work of co-operative documentation established by the Institute*.
21 At least 47 issues appeared from 1907 to 1909 containing
well in excess of 15,000 notices. 22
The OIB, in its role as national bibliographical institute
acting for Belgium in the sphere of international bibliography,
eventually became the regional bureau for Belgium of the
Royal Society sponsored International Catalogue of Scientific
Literature, but only rather reluctantly. At the end of 1899,
the Minister of the Interior and of Public Instruction wrote
to Otlet as Secretary-General of the OIB, asking his opinion
on the Royal Society's proposed organisation for the
International Catalogue. Otlet replied with a description of
the OIB's programme, and pointed out that
with respect to the bibliography of works published in Belgium, our
Office already constitutes the national organisation which the Royal
Society wishes to see created as a 'regional bureau' by the institution
of which the Royal Society hopes to facilitate the collection and dispatch
of material to London. Indeed, among other work, our Office
carries out the regular and systematic registration of all the books
and periodical articles which appear in Belgium. It would therefore
be possible for us, at relatively little new cost, to furnish the Royal
Society of London with the material it asks for and to permit Belgian
scientific literature therefore to figure in the future international
catalogue of the Sciences. 23
Otlet, La Fontaine and one other member of the OIB's
Committee of Direction had acted for Belgium at each of the
conferences held by the Royal Society on the International
Catalogue of Scientific Literature. The International Catalogue
-was a venture on the scale of the work projected for the
IIB, and it was potentially either a formidable rival or a
powerful ally. Both at the various conferences on the Catalogue
and in his writings Otlet ceaselessly and unsuccessfully
enjoined the Royal Society to reject its isolationism, to co-operate
with the OIB, to adopt its methods and participate in
its work. Over the years, the IIB Bulletin carried the documents
issued by the Society about the Catalogue, and reports
of the meetings to which Otlet had repaired.
In 1899 Otlet published a detailed, point-by-point and
highly critical examination of the final specifications adopted
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