Finding Aid for Field Survey of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Use Abroad, 1962-1967 | The American Library Association Archives

Title: Field Survey of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Use Abroad, 1962-1967

ID: 7/2/60

Primary Creator: International Relations Office (IRO)

Extent: 0.3 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject title and chronologically by date thereunder

Date Acquired: 01/17/1974. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Colburn, Edwin B., Custer, Benjamin A., Dalton, Jack, Dewey Decimal Classification, International Relations Committee, Rogers, Rutherford D., Stevenson, Grace T., Swank, Raynard C.

Languages: English

Correspondence and the final report of the Steering Committee for the Field Survey of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Use Abroad, composed of Raynard C. Swank (International Relations Committee), Jack Dalton, Rutherford D. Rogers, Grace T. Stevenson, Willis E. Wright, and Edwin B. Colburn, contains press releases, photographs of field surveyors, publications, and reports. Correspondence of chairman Willis E. Wright and successor Edwin B. Colburn contains informal travel reports of field surveyors, letters from foreign contacts (such as S. R. Ranganathan, Habib Salama, and Eva Verona), financial reports, and copies of other letters relating to the survey, includes correspondence with Benjamin A. Custer, Janette E. Newhall, Sarah K. Vann, Harriet McPherson, and Pauline Seely.

The International Relations Board (International Relations Round Table) creatred the International Relations Office (IRO) in June 1942 (1).  The IRO was set up to "carry on its work in cooperation with the other committees of the Association whose work had international implications" (2).  The IRO also functioned as an advisory agency for libraries abroad (3).  In 1942-45, the IRO served "as an operational agency for various projects of the Department of State, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other foundations and libraries" (4).  A "new" IRO was created in 1956 (5).  The IRO concentrated its efforts on library development and the director was charged to "study and investigate the state of library education in various parts of the world" (6).  The director was expected to spend several months of each year in nations on the continents of Asia, Africa, and South America (7).  In 1959, the IRO sponsored (with Rockefeller Foundation monies) a group of ten visiting Japanese librarians who studied reference and advisory services in the United States (8).  The IRO was disbanded in 1972 (9). The office reopened in 1976 before closing again in 1982, then reopening.

Repository: The American Library Association Archives

Accruals: 4/25/1974

Other Note: 1 Pages

URL: https://files.archon.library.illinois.edu/alasfa/0702060a.pdf

PDF finding aid for Field Survey of Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) Use Abroad (7/2/60)