THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

means of a Documentary Union of Governments into the world
documentation centre of which he had always dreamed. The
report emphasised the necessity for reliable, current information
as a basis for planning economic expansion and he explored
the various ways in which private and official information
agencies could best be organised.
Among the resolutions taken by the International Congress
for World Economic Expansion were a number of the
utmost importance to the OIB. Perhaps the most important
was:
Considering that rapid, integrated current documentation related to
matters of world expansion is necessary for the full utilisation of theoretical
and practical information scattered in innumerable publications
which are printed each day; Considering that the task of guiding
researchers through documents should be the responsibility of special
organisations charged with providing direct information; Considering
the results of organisations created up till now for better organising
documentation and the work that they have done towards this goal;
Considering especially the activities of the International Institute of
Bibliography which are based on international co-operation and standardisation
of methods; Considering that the sections of offices of
special technical and scientific documentation offer the public more
precise and complete information than do public organisations, ...;
Considering that similar institutions, which it is desirable to see develop
and multiply, can become a force in documentation by uniformity
of method, the world character of their documentary collections,
and by federation with the International Institute of Bibliography:
The Congress adopts the following resolutions:
1. Information services which act as intermediaries between the public
and documents, furnishing, upon written or verbal consultation to
those interested, information on special points concerned with economic
and geographic matters, should be organised in libraries with
their collections of publications, and museums with their collections of
objects, concurrently with instruction and courses;
2. Abundant, systematically collected, ready-for-use material for
response should be placed at the disposal of the personnel of these
services which have been charged with the duty of satisfying the requests
of the public, For the rational organisation of information
resources the documentary methods of the International Institute of
Bibliography should be recognised. Particularly, a central documentary
repertory should be created in which should be unified and co-ordinated
daily, as a sort of permanent register, all the information collected
relative to places, people, institutions and products.
3. A central office of documentation and information should be set up
in every country. This office should be organised by public authorities
with the agreement of the unofficial associations. It should be
widely accessible to those interested. The central office should be
put in touch with branches organised according to the same methods.
Upon the initiative of an international office, an agreement should be
made between the central offices of the different countries and the
great international institutions in order to verify their documentary
methods and exchange information and documents which are of a
public nature.
4. The Congress resolves that the International Office of Bibliography
which the Belgian government created in 1895 should set up an inter-
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