THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

a few from America. The Conference began with ceremony. La
Fontaine spoke about the history of the IIB. Otlet looked into
the future and registered the twelve millionth card in the
Universal Bibliographic Repertory. The devoted work of
Masure was acknowledged and a formal reply prepared to a
letter addressed through Otlet in 1918 to «the Librarians of
Belgium» from the American Library Association. At its
Annual Conference in 1918 the American Library Association
had pledged its help to rebuild the library of the University
of Louvain, wantonly destroyed by the Germans. It conveyed
this offer of help in a letter to Otlet in which, at the same
time, it expressed «the hope that the valuable Repertoire of
the Institut International de Bibliographic, a unique treasure
house of world service, may prove to have been left untouched
by the occupancy of Brussels . . .»
The Conference resolved that an International Union or
Federation of Bibliography with National Councils reporting
to it, should be created. The international bureau or center
would be the IIB. A primary aim of the Union or Federation
would be the further development of the tables of the
Decimal Classification. This subject was discussed at length.
It was agreed that the tables should be reissued as soon as
possible and a machinery devised for revising them and
keeping them up to date. The Dutch delegation proposed that
the most important studies and scientific discussions held at
the IIB with groups of its collaborators for the extension of
the Decimal Classification, should be published». The Conference
applauded the work of the IIB, but recognised that there
was much to be caught up on because of the interruption of
the War. It took the opportunity, too, «to distinguish henceforth
between the scientific and collecting work of the Institute
and its work of organising co-operation which would be appropriate
to a Federation of which the Institute would be an
integral part». As for the RBU, the Conference adopted the
following resolution:
Considering the importance that documentation has assumed in scientific
and practical affairs, especially in the course of the war; considering
the great effort expended under the leadership of the IIB by
purely voluntary co-operation, but observing the powerlessness of
following the work actually begun with the means at its disposal
up till now, it is desirable that the Repertoire Bibliographique Universel
become an international public service. It is for the League of
Nations ... to take the initiative in the creation of such a service. 19
Though superficially a small but worthy successor to the
earlier conferences of the IIB, one can, see, with some of the
wisdom of hindsight, in the results of the Conference the
beginning of the disintegration of the IIB as originally conceived
by Otlet. The formal recognition that the management
and development of the RBU could be separated from its
:-* 227