IFLA and the League of Nations

Louis Takács

IFLA Communications Officer

12-10-2022

 

Those of you with any interest in IFLA’s early history might want to read on.

The United Nations Library & Archives Geneva has just completed their massive “Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives (2017-2022)” project. IFLA was headquartered at the League from 1928 to the WWII era and although they sent us 15+ linear meters of IFLA-related documents in the late 80s, a lot of additional material remains in Geneva. This includes an indeterminate amount of material relevant to IFLA’s early history.

I made some quick searches on their new repository and found a lot concerning pre-war IFLA, including:

https://archives.ungeneva.org/coordination-internationale-des-bibliotheques-organisation-dun-service-special-de-linstitut-de-cooperation-intellectuelle

This shows why some IFLA historians claim that the idea of IFLA came from the U.S.

https://archives.ungeneva.org/congres-des-bibliothecaires-edimbourg-septembre-1927-correspondance-diverse

reference to the founding!

 

https://archives.ungeneva.org/international-libary-coordination-correspondence-with-and-concerning-the-international-library-and-bibliographical-committee

https://archives.ungeneva.org/international-library-coordination-third-meeting-of-delegates-of-the-international-federation-of-associations-of-librarians

https://archives.ungeneva.org/international-library-coordination-4th-session-of-the-comite-international-des-bibliotheques-international-federation-of-library-associations-cheltenham-29-31-august-1931

https://archives.ungeneva.org/co-ordination-internationale-des-bibliotheques-1er-congres-mondial-des-bibliotheques-et-de-bibliographie-rome-venise-15-30-juin-1929

They even scanned some of the Actes du Comite International des Bibliotheque, an early version of IFLA’s Annual Report:

https://archives.ungeneva.org/co-ordination-internationale-des-bibliotheques-comite-international-des-bibliotheques-5me-cinquieme-session-berne-juin-1932

Using search terms such as:

“Comité international des Bibliothèques" or “International Federation of Library Associations”

“Commission internationale de coopération intellectuelle” or “International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation”

“Sevensma” (IFLA Secretary General, 1929-1958; he was also the League librarian for many years)

yields a lot of interesting hits.  We have some of this material in our own archives but much of it is unique to the League’s archive.  

 

Access to the platform started less than a year ago

https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2022/04/preserving-and-enabling-history-multilateralism-new-online-platform-gives

and as of 6 October 2022, it’s complete.