Brief Description: Subject files of International Relations Office contains contract and basic agreement with the Agency for International Development (AID), and files relating to the Organization of American States, Society for International Development, Japan-America Conference, UNESCO, federal agencies, colleges and universities, administration of the Washington Office, ALA Conferences, divisions, offices and committees, and reports to the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) (1976-81), includes partial files from the Washington International Relations Office under the directorship of Thomas Buchanan (1966-67), Ralph Esterquest (1967-68) and David Donovan (1968-72) correspondence reports, programs, conference and project materials and articles concerning foreign librarians, conferences and projects, relations with the Government Advisory Committee (GAC), AID and IFLA, Libraries in International Development Newsletter and consultants, headquarters files of the IRO (1966-81) and the International Relations Round Table (1968-79), and a file on UNESCO's PGI program.

Record Series Number: 7/2/6

Created by: International Relations Office (IRO)

Volume: 34.0 Cubic Feet

Acquired: 04/26/1974. 3/30/1979, 9/15/1983, 2/25/2000, 5/1/2002, 6/25/2020, 8/17/2020, 6/21/2021

Arrangement: Arranged by subject file time period and alphabetically by subject title thereunder

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