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Books Between Libraries: Sharing, Exchange, and Purchasing

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Books Across Borders

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Abstract

This chapter examines the Libraries Section’s International Clearing House for Publications, UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries, and UNESCO Book Coupons. These represent the innovative and successful core of UNESCO’s postwar book and library reconstruction and rehabilitation program. They enabled the Libraries Section to strive to meet “exactly stated needs” for books, periodicals, and other printed materials in war-devastated countries and elsewhere around the world. Empowering libraries, individuals, and others to obtain the materials they wanted rather than having to accept the materials UNESCO or its supporters and donors believed they needed was significant during the early postwar-Cold War context when culture, information, and publications were viewed as potential vehicles of propaganda and misinformation by those on both sides of the escalating conflict.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    UNESCO, Outline of the Proposed Activities of the Bibliographical and Library Centre in Promoting the International Flow of Books between Libraries, 7 January 1947. UA, UNESCO/Misc./85.1947.

  2. 2.

    Conférence de presse tenue par M. François Billoux, ministre de la reconstruction et de l’urbanisme le 9 mai 1946. Bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine (hereafter BDIC), Note générale Secrétariat d’Etat à la Présidence du Conseil et à l’Information. Direction de la Documentation. Hors série n° 100, Cote F 1476 (100).

  3. 3.

    Juliusz Goryński, Director of the Department of Building Policy, Ministerstwo Odbudowy, to Wyndham White, Secretary General of the Emergency Economic Committee for Europe, 22 August 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 41, 37/2/326.

  4. 4.

    Richards, “Aslib at War,” 283.

  5. 5.

    “Mr. Clapp’s report of his trip to Europe,” Library of Congress Bulletin (6–12 August 1946): 11–13.

  6. 6.

    Untitled, unsigned, undated [circa 1946–1947]. UA, 361.9: 02 Reconstruction Libraries.

  7. 7.

    UNESCO, Outline of the Proposed Activities of the Bibliographical and Library Centre in Promoting the International Flow of Books between Libraries, 7 January 1947. UA, UNESCO/Misc./85.1947.

  8. 8.

    Note on a draft proposal for UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, 24 September 1947. TNA PRO, ED 157/197 Ministry of Education: External Relations Branch and UNESCO Branch: Registered Files (UN Series). Libraries National Co-operating Body.

  9. 9.

    “News and Information,” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries II:1 (January 1948): 2.

  10. 10.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:1 (April 1947): 1.

  11. 11.

    UNESCO, National Surveys of Library Needs and Resources, 1 August 1946, p.2. UA, Preparatory Commission Vol.V Program Committees.

  12. 12.

    Unsigned [probably Theodore Besterman] to Julien Cain, 6 May 1946. UA, 04: 341.383 “39/45” Confiscated Books.

  13. 13.

    Emphasis in original. UNESCO Preparatory Commission, Committee on Libraries, Museums and Special Projects, Memorandum on problems and policies in the development of world library and information services, 15 May 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission Vol. V Programme Committees.

  14. 14.

    Carter to Keyes Metcalf, 29 July 1948. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications.

  15. 15.

    Carter to P.S.J. Welsford, Secretary, The Library Association, 20 September 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 42, 37/13/345, Libraries, Collaboration with IFLA.

  16. 16.

    The IABC also served as model and inspiration for the American Book Center, which was established in Washington, D.C. in 1948 in order to undertake very similar work.

  17. 17.

    “Restoration of Libraries,” Conference of the Allied Ministers of Education, Inter-Allied Book Centre. Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, London, A.19.II/32, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Education, CAME, 1942–1945.

  18. 18.

    Report of the subcommission for books for war-damaged libraries, Fall 1943. TNA PRO, ED 42/6.

  19. 19.

    The French Ambassador, “Restoration of Libraries” [excerpt from speech given at the ceremony closing the IABC, 6 December 1946], The Library Association Record 49:1 (January 1947): 4.

  20. 20.

    Memorandum on the present state of the Polish University Libraries by Prof. Dr. Stefan Pienkowski, Vice-Chancellor, University of Warsaw, 9 October 1945. UA, AME/B/116, CAME Vol. IV BPC.

  21. 21.

    Dr. Jozef Grycz, Warsaw, The problem of supplying Polish libraries with British and American publications, September 1945. UA, AME/B/117, Conference of Allied Ministers of Education, London 1942–1945, Vol. IV BPC

  22. 22.

    Review with William Farr, Secretariat UNESCO Preparatory Commission, 24 July 1946. RAC, RG 12.2 Officers Diaries, John Marshall, 1 July-December 31, 1943 to June 3-September 27, 1946, MF Reel #4 [corresponds to Box 4, Folders 18–23 and Box 5, Folders 24–29].

  23. 23.

    Carter to Welsford, 20 September 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 42, 37/13/345, Libraries, Collaboration with IFLA.

  24. 24.

    Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman: A Personal Memoir of his Step-Grandfather by Tristram Besterman, Cornwall, March 2015. www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Besterman-memoir.pdf. Accessed 3 January 2019; Giles Barber, “Theodore Besterman: A Short Account of his Life,” February 2010.www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Besterman-biog.pdf. Accessed 3 January 2019; Edward J. Carter, “Theodore Besterman: A Personal Memoir,” The Journal of Documentation 33:1 (1977): 79–87.

  25. 25.

    Memorandum by Mr. Theodore Besterman on a Proposed International Library Clearing-House. UA, AME/B/26, CAME, London 1942–1945, Vol. IV BPC.

  26. 26.

    Carter to Zuckerman, 1 August 1946. UA, Zuckerman Personnel File.

  27. 27.

    Executive Secretary to Zuckerman, 7 October 1946. UA, Zuckerman Personnel File.

  28. 28.

    Memorandum on the relations between UNESCO and the Inter-Allied Book Centre, 20 December 1946. UA, BNBC-IABD.

  29. 29.

    Carter to Professor A. Photiades, Cultural Advisor to the Royal Greek Embassy, 24 September 1946. UA, BNBC-IABD.

  30. 30.

    Message from the Ministry of Works, 22 November 1946; Carter to Lars Lind, 19 December 1946. UA, BNBC-IABD.

  31. 31.

    UNESCO, “Constructive Work,” The UNESCO Book of Needs Vol. II, 122.

  32. 32.

    Memorandum on the Inter-Allied Book Centre in relation to the proposed World Clearing House for Publications, circa August 1946. TNA PRO, ED 42/6.

  33. 33.

    Zuckerman to Carter and Drzewieski, 24 June 1947; Analysis of returned questionnaires from Great Britain up to 20 June 1947. UA, BNBC-IABD.

  34. 34.

    Harry M. Lydenberg to Carter, 22 August 1946. UA, Preparatory Commission, Box 41, 37/2/328, Libraries, ICHP.

  35. 35.

    CAME, BPC, Memorandum by the Secretary on Books and Periodicals for University and National Libraries,16 March 1943, p.3. UA, 02 A 20 Libraries – Special Needs.

  36. 36.

    Carter to Exterior Relations, 24 March 1948. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications.

  37. 37.

    Zuckerman, Memoir, 64. Carter to Exterior Relations, 24 March 1948. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications, Part I.

  38. 38.

    Resolution adopted by the Second General Conference of UNESCO in Mexico. 2C/129-Page 5, 4 December 1947. UA, 361.9 A 01 TICER: 02 A 20 Temp. Int. Council for Educ. Reconstr. Libraries Cttee.

  39. 39.

    Carter to Nicholson, 9 May 1947. UA, BNBC-IABD.

  40. 40.

    Carter to Drzewieski et al., 22 October 1948. UA, 361.9: 02 Reconstruction Libraries.

  41. 41.

    Untitled, unsigned, undated [circa 1946–1947]. UA, 361.9: 02 Reconstruction Libraries.

  42. 42.

    The Bulletin was renamed again in 1979 to the UNESCO Journal of Information Science, Librarianship and Archives Administration, which was published until 1983.

  43. 43.

    Libri was born of an idea first suggested in 1930 to the American Library Association by prominent Danish librarian Svend Dahl. Svend Larsen, “Libri: The Early Years,” Libri 50 (2000): 69–74.

  44. 44.

    Edwin E. Williams, “Exchanges: National and International,” Library Trends 2:4 (April 1954): 564.

  45. 45.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:1 (April 1947): 2.

  46. 46.

    Bulletin of the International Clearing House for Publications. UA, Preparatory Commission Vol. V Program Committees.

  47. 47.

    Carter to Department of Cultural Activities, 19 February 1951. UA, X07.353.321 UNESCO Publications – General.

  48. 48.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:5 (August 1947): 109.

  49. 49.

    Carter to Eugene B. Power, University Microfilms, 4 February 1948. UA, 651.523: 02 Microfilm – Libraries.

  50. 50.

    Report of the Director-General on developments since the last session, Paris, 7 July 1947. UA, Executive Board, 1947, Vol. I, 1–2 Sessions.

  51. 51.

    Edward J. Carter, “UNESCO’s Library Programs and Work,” The Library Quarterly 18:4 (October 1948): 237.

  52. 52.

    General Conference, 4th Session, Programme and Budget Commission, Paris, 1 August 1949, 2. UA, X07.353.321 UNESCO Publications – General.

  53. 53.

    4C/PRG/6 Annex II, 1 August 1949. UA, X07.353.321 UNESCO Publications – General.

  54. 54.

    Edward J. Carter to Department of Cultural Activities, 19 February 1951. UA, X07.353.321 UNESCO Publications – General.

  55. 55.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1:1 (April 1947): 1.

  56. 56.

    UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries II:2 (February 1948): 74.

  57. 57.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 57.

  58. 58.

    “New Book Currency Now in Circulation,” UNESCO Courier I:11–12 (December 1948–January 1949): 6.

  59. 59.

    “Book Coupon Scheme Proving a Success,” UNESCO Courier II:2 (March 1949): 3.

  60. 60.

    Report of Dr. Julian Huxley, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission to the General Conference, Paris, 18 November 1946. UA, General Conference 1. Session Paris 1946, Vol. 4 Documents.

  61. 61.

    Carter , UNESCO Schemes to Aid Publications Circulation, report of meeting with Rockefeller Foundation officers, 13 December 1947. UA, 02 A 855 International Exchange of Publications.

  62. 62.

    The International Supply of Printed Materials, marked Confidential, [undated but October 1947]. RAC, RG 3 Series 900 Box 24 Folder 191, 900 Program and Policy – Literature Aid 1945–1955.

  63. 63.

    UNESCO, National Co-operating Bodies in the United Kingdom, Notes on a draft proposal for UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, 24 September 1947. TNA PRO ED157/197.

  64. 64.

    Dr. Joseph Needham, Notes on a short visit to Poland and Czechoslovakia, June 1947, Warsaw, p.2, 4. UA, X 07.21 (438), Relations with Poland – Official.

  65. 65.

    “Book Coupon Scheme Proving a Success,” 3.

  66. 66.

    Huxley to Minister of Education, Warsaw, 28 August 1947. AAN, Ministerstwo Oświaty, File 804, sygnatury 359–351.

  67. 67.

    Carter to Minister of Education, Warsaw, 12 January 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  68. 68.

    Carter to G.R. Edwards, Central Medical Library Bureau, London, 7 February 1949; Zuckerman to John Jay McCloy, President, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 11 March 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  69. 69.

    UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, remarks by Mr. Edward Carter, Head of the Libraries Division at the Distribution token coupons to participating members, 8 December 1948, Beirut. UA, UNESCO General Conference Beirut 1948. Vol. 24 Main Documents. Speeches.

  70. 70.

    Working paper for discussion at meeting on UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, 1 March 1949, 2. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  71. 71.

    Rozdzielnik bonow ksiazkowych UNESCO na rok 1950, $2750. AAN, Ministerstwo Oświaty, File 795, sygnatury 150.

  72. 72.

    Walter H.C. Laves, Acting Director-General to Minister for Foreign Affairs [11 August 1949]. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  73. 73.

    J. Hrynczyszyn to Chief Director, Library, 21 January 1950. AAN, Ministerstwo Oświaty, File 795, sygnatury 140.

  74. 74.

    “Introduction,” Report on the Effectiveness of the Reconstruction Program 1947 – 1948 – 1949 (Paris: UNESCO, 1950), 36.

  75. 75.

    “Appropriations by section, chapter and item,” Budget Estimates for Financial Year 1948 and Information Annex (Paris: UNESCO, 1947).

  76. 76.

    The UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, LBA Memo 2251, 8 February 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  77. 77.

    “UNESCO Offers Gift Plan,” Christian Science Monitor, 6 February 1951.

  78. 78.

    Carter , UNESCO Schemes to Aid Publications Circulation.

  79. 79.

    Carter , UNESCO Schemes to Aid Publications Circulation.

  80. 80.

    Carter to M. Weissgerbert, 2 February 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  81. 81.

    Julien Cain to Director-General , 30 May 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  82. 82.

    Emphasis in original. Carter, UNESCO Schemes to Aid Publications Circulation.

  83. 83.

    France, Report submitted to the Fifth Session of the General Conference, 144. UA, General Conference, Fifth Session, 1950, Reports of Member States.

  84. 84.

    “Has UNESCO Anything to Declare?” UNESCO Courier 11:10 (1 November 1949): 8.

  85. 85.

    Zuckerman , Memoirs, 56.

  86. 86.

    “Has UNESCO Anything to Declare?” 8.

  87. 87.

    Six months’ experience with the UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, 23 May 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  88. 88.

    “Has UNESCO Anything to Declare?” 8.

  89. 89.

    Zuckerman to John Jay McCloy, President, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 11 March 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  90. 90.

    Zuckerman to Harry West, 24 March 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  91. 91.

    Working paper for discussion at meeting on UNESCO Book Coupon Scheme, 1 March 1949; Zuckerman to Harry West, 24 March 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  92. 92.

    “American Library Association endorses UNESCO Book Coupon Programme,” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries VI:7 (July 1952): E85.

  93. 93.

    Zuckerman to Williams, 4 April 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  94. 94.

    Voice of America is an American government-funded international radio broadcasting source, founded in 1942, and which some, then and now, consider propaganda. See Greg Barnhisel, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015).

  95. 95.

    Zuckerman to Harry West, 24 March 1949. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  96. 96.

    Adapted from UNESCO Features, No. 13 Paris, 15 January 1950. National Archives and Records Administration (hereafter NARA), RG 331, Allied Operational & Occupation Headquarters, World War II, Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces, Civil Information & Education Section, Public Opinion & Sociological Research Division (Religious Cultural Resources Division), General Subject File 1945–52, Box 5963, Folder UNESCO Book Coupon.

  97. 97.

    Extract of the Reports of Member States presented to the General Conference at its Seventh Section, Paris, November–December 1952, France, 74. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

  98. 98.

    “UNESCO’s Book Coupons,” Physics Today 4:3 (March 1951): 30.

  99. 99.

    UA, General Conference 1951 Report of the Director-General, 77.

  100. 100.

    Richard Hoggart, An Idea and its Servants: UNESCO from Within (London: Chatto & Windus, 1978), 37.

  101. 101.

    Carter to Drzewieski, 19 May 1949. LBA Memo 771. UA, 332.55: 02 Book Coupons-General.

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  1. Alden Library, Ohio University Libraries, Athens, OH, USA

    Miriam Intrator

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Intrator, M. (2019). Books Between Libraries: Sharing, Exchange, and Purchasing. In: Books Across Borders. New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15816-3_3

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