Brief Description: Internship files of foreign librarians contains correspondence, printed materials, reports and notes relating to foreign librarians and library students in the United States, includes materials dealing with job opportunities, internships, such as those sponsored by the Department of State in cooperation with U.S. national and state library associations, and the Multi-National Librarian Projects (1961-1968) and the Multi-Area Group Librarian Program (1963-1968), which were State Department programs designed to match librarians with U.S. libraries.

Record Series Number: 7/2/16

Created by: International Relations Office (IRO)

Volume: 3.3 Cubic Feet

Acquired: 04/26/1974.

Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by subject title

Biographical Note for International Relations Office (IRO) : 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.

Subject Index

Languages of Materials