THE UNIVERSE OF INFORMATION.pdf - ideals

number of congresses were to be held as well as the second
session of the International University. Among the congresses
was one of particular interest: the Congress for Intellectual
Work, which Otlet and La Fontaine had decided to call themselves,
the League having refused to do it. Another, a Pan
African Congress stimulated much local ill-will because of
the expression of anti-colonial, radical views which took place
within it. In June a report was published on the need for
an international technical organisation for intellectual labour
together with Otlet and La Fontaine's draft of the statutes of
an international convention for it which the League had
rejected. 43 A number of other documents were also issued to
coincide with the opening of the second Quinzaine Internationale.
The most important one of these was Centre International.^
This set out systematically the ideas underlying Otlet
and La Fontaine's work for internationalism, and described
fully the elements comprising the International Center: the
International Museum, the International Library, the International
Institute of Bibliography and its International
Bibliographic Repertory, the Documentary Encyclopedia, the
Central Office of the International Associations, the Congresses
of the Union of International Associations, and the International
University. A group of these documents were sent otf
to Drummond on the 20th August to serve as the basis for
his report to the second Assembly of the League on the
educational influence and value of the UIA. 45
The second session of the International University was
as successful as the first. As before, the League sent participants,
and 339 academics from 22 countries pledged their
support, while 1,74 hours of instruction were actually given:
by 69 lecturers during the period. The Assembly of the University
met to discuss its future which, despite lack of funds,
still seemed bright. A formal meeting of delegates from the
International Associations forming the Union of International
Associations was held. It was agreed at this meeting that a
third Quinzaine should be planned for 1922, that the International
University should continue to be supported by them,
that the work of the International Center should be extended
as much as possible, and finally, that a National Center for
International Action should be set up in each country.
The International Institute of Bibliography also held a
meeting at this time. It concentrated on developing plans for
revising the Universal Decimal Classification. A committee
for its revision in which Donker Duyvis became active was set
up, and the meeting was informed that steps were being taken
to try to persuade the League of Nations to provide the means
for printing it. Two sections of the Classification had been
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