College and Research Libraries By H A R R Y N . M . W I N T O N Documents and Publications of the United Nations' Tw o YEARS ago in this city, on J u n e 26, 1945, the representatives of fifty-one governments signed the charter of the U n i t e d Nations and the statute of the Inter- national C o u r t of Justice. T h e six main organs of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s have since been established, the eleven commissions of the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l have been set up, and the m a j o r relationships between the specialized agencies and the U n i t e d N a t i o n s have been defined f o r most of the agencies by agreement so that the initial period of basic organization may be said to have been completed. D u r i n g these t w o years of efforts to re- v i v i f y and coordinate international activi- ties disrupted by the late w a r , to grapple w i t h the first substantive problems laid before the U n i t e d Nations, the Secretariat itself has been in process of organization. T h e w o r k of building a n e w Secretariat, while at the same time serving the n e w organs engaged in their first tasks, has not been made easier by the t w o great removes of the organization, f r o m L o n d o n to the B r o n x in N e w Y o r k C i t y , and thence to L a k e Success in L o n g Island, w h i c h in turn w i l l be only a temporary headquarters until the erection of the permanent buildings on the East R i v e r site in M a n h a t t a n . It is not surprising, therefore, if the swirl of activi- ties, sweeping across the A t l a n t i c to the N e w W o r l d and back again through con- ferences and commissions of inquiry and n e w specialized agencies, has prevented Sec- 1 Paper presented at the meeting of the Public Documents Committee, San Francisco, J u l y 2, 1947. retariat procedure f r o m settling into recog- nizable patterns w h i c h may be described and cataloged w i t h assurance. F o r the methodically-minded observer, the situation is still not clear, and to the Secretariat it- self only the grander outlines and some details here and there emerge w i t h clarity. But w e are beginning to see our w a y and to order and coordinate o u r activities. It w i l l be reasonable enough, therefore, simply to outline in this paper the situation con- cerning documents and publications of the U n i t e d Nations, w i t h o u t pretending to fi- nality in description. Definitions Certain definitions may be conveniently laid d o w n and certain areas marked off as outside the scope of the present paper. T h e term " U n i t e d N a t i o n s d o c u m e n t s " covers o n l y those papers submitted, records of meetings, resolutions and reports adopted by organs and suborgans of the U n i t e d Nations, w h i c h are published in a series under an official symbol or in the official records, whether the distribution be unre- stricted or restricted, whether the docu- ments be processed or printed. D r a f t s , internal Secretariat studies, and delegation papers w h i c h are not so published o r w h i c h remain in typescript are excluded f r o m that definition. Press releases and publications of the D e p a r t m e n t of P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n , of the Statistical Office of the U n i t e d N a - tions, and of other divisions of the Secre- tariat are likewise excluded. Furthermore, of the documents and publications of the 6 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES U n i t e d Nations, f o u r groups w i l l not be described in this paper. ( I ) T h e docu- ments of the specialized agencies are out- side the scheme of documentation developed at the headquarters. T h e specialized agen- cies are relatively autonomous and vary considerably in their methods of documenta- tion, publication, and distribution. Some agencies, such as the International L a b o u r O r g a n i z a t i o n , are older than the U n i t e d Nations itself; others, such as the Interna- tional R e f u g e e O r g a n i z a t i o n , are not yet completely established; and most of them are not seated at the headquarters. ( 2 ) T h e documents of the M i l i t a r y Staff C o m - mittee are produced and distributed by that body alone. ( 3 ) T h e circulars and bulle- tins of the Secretariat are primarily of internal interest and circulation. ( 4 ) T h e documents issued away f r o m headquarters, at the European office in Geneva, f o r exam- ple, have not yet been received with suffi- cient speed and regularity f o r the D o c u - ments Index unit at the headquarters to make any reasonable observations in the matter. T h e documents of the International C o u r t of Justice, which is seated at T h e H a g u e , lie outside the scheme of publica- tions and distribution developed at the head- quarters. T h e y are printed in Leiden and are distributed by the court, which w i l l , however, use the regular sales agents of the U n i t e d Nations. Six series are p l a n n e d : A . J u d g m e n t s ; B. A d v i s o r y o p i n i o n s ; C . D o c u m e n t s presented in cases; D . Statutes and treaties governing the organization of the c o u r t ; E . A n n u a l r e p o r t s ; F . Indexes to the judgments, etc. So far, only the first number in Series D has appeared. Documents Series R e t u r n i n g to an outline of the present situation with respect to U n i t e d Nations documentation f o r the General Assembly, the councils, and commissions, w e may ob- serve that there are several salient cate- gories by which it may be described. First, documents appear on paper of a distinctive color and masthead and under a series symbol. Second, nearly all documents are issued both in English and in French, the w o r k i n g languages, and key documents usually appear also in Russian, Spanish, and Chinese editions. T h i r d , most documents issued f o r current use in discussion are processed ( m i m e o g r a p h o r offset reproduc- t i o n ) , a fact w h i c h sets a limit to the quantity w h i c h may be produced and w h i c h under the present distribution policy ex- cludes such processed documents f r o m sale, in order to assure an adequate supply f o r official use. Fourth, a considerable num- ber of documents are reissued in printed f o r m in the official records of the various main organs, so that they are generally available to the public through sale or sub- scription; and, furthermore, a g r o w i n g number of key reports, f r o m the Secretary- General and f r o m subordinate bodies to the main organs, f o r instance, w i l l appear initi- ally in printed f o r m either as separate d o c u - ments in series or as separate supplements to official records of the main organ concerned. F i f t h , documents are classified as to dis- tribution into the categories "unrestricted," "restricted," and " s e c r e t . " T h e last cate- gory requires the written approval of the Secretary-General f o r issue and so far has not been used. " R e s t r i c t e d " documents, in- cluding "restricted w o r k i n g papers," are circulated primarily to the members of the body of issue, usually a drafting subcom- mittee or body in which certain questions of policy are being initially discussed, or which meets in " c l o s e d " or " p r i v a t e " ses- sion. " S e c r e t " and " r e s t r i c t e d " documents are not distributed to the so-called deposi- tory libraries. W e may n o w take up in greater detail each of the five broad groupings outlined above. First, the identification of docu- JANUARY, 1948 7 ments. T h e use of colored sheets f o r proc- essed documents and colored covers for printed documents permits quick recognition of the issuing body in rapid sorting of masses of documents, whatever may be thought of the variations in hue which arise f r o m the present exigencies in the paper supplies. A l l documents in the General Assembly, its committees and other subordinate bodies appear on white paper under a bilingual General Assembly masthead. Documents of the Security Council and its subordinate bodies appear on yellow under a Security Council masthead. T h e documents of the Economic and Social Council and its com- missions appear on blue paper (although the documents of the first session issued in L o n - don were p i n k ) . T h e Trusteeship Council documents are green. T h e important A t o m i c Energy Commission, although not one of the six main organs under the char- ter, issues documents on salmon paper. T h e Secretariat circulars and bulletins appear on white paper under a bilingual " U n i t e d N a t i o n s " masthead, which is also used for documents of any joint body composed of representatives of t w o of the six main or- gans. T h e covers only of the official records of the General Assembly and the councils are colored in the distinctive manner just described. T h e former journals, however, were printed on paper of these distinctive colors, with the journal of the first session of the Economic and Social Council, like the documents of that L o n d o n session, in pink. So far as one can at present see, this policy will remain unchanged. T h e system of document series symbols is more complex. T h e present system was laid down in N e w Y o r k and modifies the arrangements prevalent in the L o n d o n period by discarding emphasis on letter symbols f o r a system which is primarily numerical in character. T h e modifications are really less severe than they have ap- peared. M o s t of the purely alphabetical series symbols which were superseded relate either to documents of ad hoc committees which have been dissolved or to documents of the " n u c l e a r " commissions of the E c o - nomic and Social Council which have been succeeded by full commissions regarded as new bodies. T h e r e remain to be sure, cer- tain inconsistencies, but the f o l l o w i n g brief outline describes the basic features. Since the w o r k of the main and subordinate organs during the years 1946 and 1947 has been essentially organizational in character, there is still, here and there, an area of uncer- tainty in symbol series of subordinate bodies, especially where certain bodies have not yet established a characteristic pattern of w o r k and organization. Furthermore, anomalies have appeared and will appear when documents are produced away from the headquarters by members of the Secre- tariat not entirely familiar with the scheme. Each of the main organs covered by the scheme and the A t o m i c Energy Commission has a characteristic symbol f o r its own plenary or general documents series: A / for the General Assembly, S / f o r the Security Council, E / for the Economic and Social Council, T / for the Trusteeship Council, and A E C / f o r the A t o m i c Energy C o m - mission. Documents presented to the main organ for consideration or issued by it are identified by a number f o l l o w i n g the char- acteristic basic symbol for the organ. T h u s , A / 1 8 2 is the 182nd document in the gen- eral series of the General Assembly, S / 2 7 is the twenty-seventh document in the gen- eral series of the Security Council, and so on. Subordinate to the General Assembly and the councils, is a ramifying complex of com- mittees, commissions, subcommittees, and other bodies. M o s t of the permanent sub- ordinate bodies have been n o w established, but there is no end to the number of ad hoc subordinate bodies which are created f o r specific tasks and are dissolved when these 8 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES are accomplished. T h i s is not the place to describe their documentation in detail, but the general scheme may be outlined rather simply, with the reminder that the present arrangements have superseded the initial pattern devised in L o n d o n . T h e documents of any permanent or standing committee of a main organ are identified by a symbol composed of the basic symbol for the main organ and the com- ponent for committee numbered to corre- spond with the particular committee. T h u s documents of the first or Political and Se- curity Committee of the General Assembly are identified by the symbol A / C . i / ; the documents of the Committee on Arrange- ments for Consultation with Nongovern- mental Organizations of the Economic and Social Council are identified by the symbol E / C . 2 / . Similarly, documents of ad hoc commit- tees are identified by a symbol composed of the basic symbol for the main body and a component f o r the ad hoc committee num- bered to correspond with the order of its establishment. T h u s , E / A C . 1 7 / is the series symbol for the ad hoc Committee on the Economic Commission f o r Europe, the seventeenth ad hoc committee established by the Economic and Social Council. C o m - mittees appointed before the institution of the present symbol scheme have been counted in determining the number of ad hoc committees so far established, but their old alphabetical symbols remain unchanged since most of these committees have ex- pired. T h e permanent headquarters C o m - mittee of the General Assembly (symbol, A / S I T E / ) was the second ad hoc com- mittee to be established by the General Assembly but its documents will continue to bear the old symbol until the committee is discharged. Subcommittee series are indicated by affixing the number symbol component / S C . i / , / S C . 2 / , etc., to the symbol f o r the parent committee or ad hoc committee. Outside the Economic and Social C o u n - cil proper are its subordinate commissions n o w numbering eleven. T h e documents of each of these are distinguished by a num- bered component indicating a commission ( / C N . i / , / C N . 2 / , etc.) affixed to the basic symbol for the council. T h u s the documents of the Economic and E m - ployment Commission bear the symbol E / C N . i / ; the Statistical Commission, the symbol E / C N . 3 / ; the Population C o m - mission, the symbol E / C N . 9 / . It was felt by the Documents Index unit that a nu- merical designation would be less confus- ing in the long run than purely alphabetical symbols, because the innumerable alpha- betical designations for various national and intergovernmental bodies already in exist- ence narrow the choice of meaningful letter combinations available, while the problem of creating letter symbols meaningful in both English and French further narrows the area of choice. In the case of the Eco- nomic Commission for Europe the series symbol E / C N . 1 0 / was overruled in favor of E / E C E / , but the latter symbol, com- pletely alphabetical, may easily be confused by the unwary with the current abbrevia- tion E E C E for the Emergency Economic Committee for Europe, an older organiza- tion which is about to be dissolved. Subcommissions series are indicated by affixing the numbered component / S U B . 1, / S U B . 2, etc., to the series symbol f o r the parent body. T h u s E / C N . 4 / S U B . 2 / des- ignates the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of M i - norities established by the Commission on Human Rights. Conferences under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council or its com- missions have been variously designated, but henceforth, will be designated with a num- bered conference component E / C O N F . 1 / , E / C O N F . 2 / , etc. JANUARY, 1948 9 Preparatory committees established to prepare f o r such conferences w i l l issue docu- ments bearing the affix / P C / attached to the conference symbol. In addition to their general series, there are f o r most of the main organs and sub- ordinate bodies, certain subseries also em- bracing information series, records of meet- ings, and w o r k i n g papers. T h e symbol components f o r these types of subseries are affixed to the basic symbol f o r the organ. T h u s , instructions to delegations, lists of members of delegations, and similar purely informative documents are issued in an in- f o r m a t i o n series w i t h the affixed secondary symbol / I N F / , so that the symbol A / I N F / 3 is to be interpreted as the third document in the information series of the General Assembly. R e c o r d s of meetings appear either as verbatim records w i t h the affixed secondary symbol / P V . , indicating proces-verbal in extenso, or as summary records w i t h the affixed secondary symbol / S R . , indicating summary record, so numbered that the document number corresponds w i t h the meeting number in a continuous series. T h u s , S / P V . 5 3 indicates the verbatim rec- ord of the fifty-third meeting of the Se- curity C o u n c i l , w h i l e T / A C . 2 / S R . 6 indi- cates the summary record of the sixth meet- ing of the ad hoc C o m m i t t e e on Q u e s t i o n - naires established by the Trusteeship C o u n - cil. It should be observed that verbatim records are provisional in character both as to original and interpreted text. T h e y are prepared during the course of the ple- nary meetings f o r immediate issue to dele- gations, the Secretariat, and the press. Delegations are requested to f o r w a r d any corrections within forty-eight hours to the Editorial Division, w h i c h is charged w i t h preparing copy f o r the official records. T h e E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l , unlike its sister organs, publishes only summary rec- ords in its Official Records (as f o r m e r l y in its Journal), so that the verbatim records remain in processed f o r m only. Beginning with the fifth session, the summary records of this council w i l l appear in a summary record series, instead of being scattered through its plenary series. T h e General Assembly, the Security C o u n c i l , the A t o m i c E n e r g y Commission, and the Trusteeship C o u n c i l , which reissue the final texts of their verbatim records in their official rec- ords, do not issue summary records of ple- nary meetings. W i t h the exception of the first special session of the General Assembly, and the public meetings of the Subcommittee on the Spanish Question of the Security C o u n c i l , verbatim records are not published f o r committees, commissions, and other sub- ordinate bodies of the main organs but remain in manuscript f o r m (if verbatim reporters were available to record the pro- ceedings) in the files of the Secretariat or in the archives of the U n i t e d Nations. Committees, commissions, and other sub- ordinate bodies w h i c h issue records of their proceedings publish summary records. So far, only the summary records of the c o m - mittees of the General Assembly ( w i t h the exception of the Credentials C o m m i t t e e ) have been reissued in the printed official records. T h e summary records of the c o m - mittees, commissions, and other subordinate bodies of the councils, as w e l l as the sub- committees of G e n e r a l Assembly c o m m i t - tees remain in processed f o r m . T h e last of the subseries embraces the w o r k i n g papers, always of restricted dis- tribution, and usually composed of drafts and other documents f o r preliminary c o n - sideration or f o r discussion in closed meet- ings. Such a subseries is indicated by affixing the secondary symbol / W . to the basic symbol f o r the issuing body. T h e issue of such w o r k i n g papers is usually con- fined to committees and other subordinate bodies. T h u s , document A / A C . 7 / W . 3 is 10 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES the third w o r k i n g paper of the headquar- ters A d v i s o r y Committee. In addition to symbols f o r these subseries and to the series of subordinate bodies, cer- tain other secondary symbols are employed to indicate revisions of texts and corrigenda and addenda. W h e n the text of a document has been f o r m a l l y revised by action of the issuing body, or a delegation or the Secretariat has prepared a revised text of a document sub- mitted by it, the secondary symbol / R e v . i is added to the symbol and number assigned to the original text. T h u s E / I N F / i / - R e v . i denotes the first revision of document one in the information series of the E c o - nomic and Social C o u n c i l . If n e w material is issued w h i c h should be appended to a document already pub- lished, such as an appendix, tables, charts, maps, additional clauses o r paragraphs, later information and the like, the adden- dum is issued with the secondary symbol / A d d . i added to the original symbol and number of the main document. T h u s T / 1 5 / A d d . i w o u l d be the first addendum to document fifteen in the general series of the Trusteeship C o u n c i l . E / I N F / i / R e v . i / A d d . 1 w o u l d be the first addendum to the first revision of document one in the in- formation series of the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l . Secretarial or editorial correction of errors in the text, title, date or classification of a document, including the emendation of the translation o r the addition of text erroneously omitted may be accomplished by issuing a corrigendum bearing the sec- ondary symbol / C o r r . 1 attached to the original symbol and number of the main documents. T h u s , S / P V . 8 2 / C o r r . 3 is the third corrigendum to the verbatim record of the eighty-second plenary meeting of the Security C o u n c i l . T h e time has not yet arrived w h e n the Secretariat may produce documents w i t h an O l y m p i a n calm and de- cisiveness w h i c h precludes the necessity of issuing occasional revisions, corrigenda, and addenda, but the line is d r a w n at the issuance of corrigenda to corrigenda, and instead a second or third corrigendum is issued. Printed Documents O f the processed documents described above, many are destined to be reissued in the printed official records and in the sup- plements thereto. T h e official records of the General Assembly, of the Security C o u n c i l , the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l , the Trusteeship C o u n c i l , and the A t o m i c E n e r g y Commission comprise the records of the plenary meetings. T h e s e are usually verbatim records, but in the case of the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l , they are summary records only. T h e supplements contain the principal documents discussed at these meetings. T h e official records w i l l replace entirely the f o r m e r journals of the General Assembly, the Security C o u n c i l , and the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l , and the f o r m e r Journal of the United Nations, all of which, like the processed verbatim records, are only provisional in character. It is true that a great backlog of older records has not been printed because of the priority given to the heavy demands f o r printing of current records f o r the Security C o u n c i l and A t o m i c E n e r g y Commission, but before very l o n g all the records f o r meetings in 1946 should be in print. T h e official records are issued initially in bilingual editions in English and French and eventually appear also in Chinese, R u s - sian, and Spanish editions. T h e official records are sold or ex- changed, so that they w i l l be the means f o r making available to all libraries the bulk of the processed documents in the plenary series, the verbatim records of meet- ings of the main organs, and the reports of committees and commissions to those main JANUARY, 1948 11 organs. T h e remaining processed d o c u - ments in the plenary series w h i c h are not reissued in the official records are not sold or exchanged, so they must be consulted in the so-called "depository libraries" or at the headquarters of the U n i t e d Nations. Except f o r the main committees of the G e n - eral Assembly and its L e a g u e of N a t i o n s and permanent headquarters committees, it is not intended that summary records of committees and commissions of the c o u n - cils or of the other ad hoc committees of the General Assembly be published in the official r e c o r d s ; likewise the papers of sub- committees w i l l be excluded. Certain important documents in any series, w h e n they can be prepared suffi- ciently far in advance of a session, are printed rather than processed, such as the annual report of the Secretary-General on the w o r k of the organization. Reports of commissions to the E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l w o u l d probably appear only in d r a f t f o r m in the commission series and in final f o r m as printed documents in the council series as supplements to its official records. F o r example, document E / 4 3 6 , the Report of the Meeting of Experts to Prepare for a World Conference on Pass- port and Frontier Formalities, appears as Supple?nent No. 1 to the official records of the fifth session of the council. It seems clear that eventually the m a j o r portion of the general documents of the General A s - sembly and the councils w i l l appear in print, and that an increasingly large part of the key reports w i l l appear initially in printed f o r m in advance of the meeting o r session at w h i c h they w i l l be considered. Serial Publications In addition to the documents of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s and the official records, there are a number of official serial publi- cations w h i c h may here be briefly men- tioned. Some of these publications have not yet appeared, w h i l e others have not yet acquired that regularity of appearance w h i c h marks the transition f r o m the or- ganizing period of the parent body. It is, therefore, fitting that only brief mention be made of them at this time and that, rather, attention be directed at certain as- pects of their appearance. T h e E c o n o m i c and Social C o u n c i l w a s charged by the General Assembly w i t h the task of sur- veying certain functions and activities of the League of Nations, w i t h a v i e w to de- termining w h i c h of them should, w i t h such modifications as are desirable, be assumed by organs of the U n i t e d Nations or be entrusted to specialized agencies which have been brought into relationship w i t h the U n i t e d Nations. A m o n g such league functions and ac- tivities to be considered w e r e certain peri- odical publications and special studies. T h e continuance of such publications and the initiation of n e w series by the U n i t e d N a - tions may be undertaken at the headquarters by the appropriate divisions of the Secre- tariat, by the European office ( G e n e v a ) , by the office f o r Asia and the F a r East, or by various specialized agencies n o w or later brought into relationship w i t h the U n i t e d Nations, w i t h the consequence that exist- ing publications of the agencies must also be considered and that a period of time must elapse before a firm picture can be obtained of the n e w situation. T h e Sta- tistical O f f i c e of the U n i t e d Nations at the headquarters n o w publishes the Monthly Bulletin of Statistics in English and French, w h i c h in its n e w f o r m replaces the f o r m e r league Monthly Bulletin of Statistics. T h e T r a n s p o r t and C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Division of the D e p a r t m e n t of E c o n o m i c A f f a i r s pre- pares the Monthly Review of Important Events in the Field of Transport and Com- munications in a provisional f o r m f o r lim- ited distribution w h i c h continues the simi- lar publication of the League of N a t i o n s 12 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES E c o n o m i c , Financial, and T r a n s i t D e p a r t - ment. T w o f o r m e r publications of the League of Nations library are being continued in G e n e v a as the Monthly List of Selected Articles and the Monthly List of Books Catalogued in the Library of the United Nations, although not yet on a monthly basis. T h e General Assembly approved regula- tions f o r the registration of treaties and f o r their publication in a treaty series of the U n i t e d Nations. T h i s project is w e l l under w a y in the L e g a l D e p a r t m e n t and w i l l be carried out in the tradition of the League of Nations T r e a t y Series. Besides those publications and studies of the League of Nations w h i c h are to be con- tinued, and the technical publications and studies inaugurated by the U n i t e d Nations, is the considerable volume of informational material prepared and planned by the D e - partment of P u b l i c I n f o r m a t i o n . T h e de- partment is w e l l - k n o w n to libraries through its United Nations Weekly Bulletin, pub- lished in English, French, and Spanish editions. It issues also a w i d e variety of processed materials f o r the benefit of the press and schools, and reaches the public through other media less familiar to li- braries, such as the radio, still and motion pictures, posters, and public speakers. T h e full round of its activities is beyond the scope of this paper. Publications Sales Numbers T h e Sales Section of the Division of D o c u m e n t s and Sales has established a series of standing-order categories f o r individual publications apart f r o m periodicals and the official records. T h e categories cover fif- teen fields, which are outlined in United Nations Publications Catalogue No. I. Beginning in 1947 each publication carries on the reverse of the title page a box con- taining a publications sales number consist- ing of the year of publication, the category number of the publication in R o m a n nu- merals, and the number of the publication in the particular category in A r a b i c numerals. Distribution T h e problem of distributing the unre- stricted materials described in this paper may only be touched upon briefly. F o r the printed materials, the problem is not so difficult, since most of these are obtainable by exchange or sale through arrangements with the regular sales agents of the U n i t e d Nations. T h e problem in this field is rather of coordinating the activities of the various specialized agencies and n o n g o v e r n - mental organizations throughout the w o r l d w h i c h are associated w i t h the U n i t e d N a - tions, so that at least information concern- ing separate and serial publications is read- ily available through some u n i f o r m method of listing or cataloging, even though publi- cation and distribution may not be central- ized. So far as the processed documents are concerned, it is difficult to see a better solution f o r a w i d e distribution to useful purpose of the immense bulk of unrestricted documents ( i n t w o w o r k i n g languages) than some arrangement f o r strategically lo- cated "depository libraries." T h e govern- ments, the delegations, the Secretariat departments, the specialized agencies, and the nongovernmental organizations w o r k i n g with the U n i t e d Nations must be assured of a distribution of documents sufficient to further their w o r k , but an additional c o m - plete distribution beyond a select number of national libraries and research institu- tions making daily use of such documents seems uneconomic. F o r the general li- brary, the printed official records w i l l prob- ably suffice. H o w the documents in the so- called "depository libraries" are to be made available to users elsewhere is a problem f o r the libraries themselves to solve. T h e w o r k of the D o c u m e n t s Index unit J A N U A R Y , 1948 13 has so far been chiefly to locate f o r the dele- gations and the Secretariat documents c u r - rently under discussion in the sessions of the various organs of the U n i t e d N a t i o n s — speeches, d r a f t resolutions, reports, and the like, to identify documents referred to or quoted, and to bring together documents dealing w i t h any particular subject. T h e card index files cover a vast range of docu- ments f r o m the San Francisco C o n f e r e n c e , through the Preparatory Commission, the General Assembly, the three councils, and the various commissions and other ad hoc bodies established by the main organs, as w e l l as the circulars and bulletins of the Secretariat. But the efforts of a small staff to establish clues to all this material through cards, indexes, and other devices have left little time f o r publication of up- to-the-minute checklists o r of detailed sub- ject-indexes. G r a d u a l l y , h o w e v e r , the backlog of checklists to documents is being whittled away by the issue of individual checklists to each committee series of the General Assembly f o r 1946. T h e D o c u - ments Index unit also issues at the close of sessions of any organ during 1947, check- lists w h i c h also list under each agenda item the documents submitted concerning it, the records of meetings in w h i c h it was dis- cussed, and the section of the final report concerning the item. T h e s e checklists are themselves processed documents, but it is hoped that before the end of the year the unit w i l l be able to publish this material in its o w n periodic checklist on a sales or sub- scription basis. Summary Note • T h i s survey has been of necessity brief, but it has possibly clarified the picture in some degree, and has suggested some of the documentary questions facing the U n i t e d N a t i o n s and its associated bodies. T h e magnitude of the problem of international documentation demands that the best of technical skill and imagination be employed t o w a r d its solution f o r the benefit of all peoples. T h e cooperation and advice of A m e r i c a n librarians in meeting this chal- lenge w i l l certainly be both w a r m l y w e l - comed and expected. The Library in the Educational Institution (Continued from page 5) be a course in science, it needs a reasonable selection of scientific journals almost as much as it needs its laboratory. A n inade- quate library means crippled instruction everywhere, because it shuts off the sources of information or of inspiration f r o m teach- ers, f r o m students, or f r o m both. A n d apart f r o m f o r m a l instruction, the library properly equipped and managed can be the chief intellectual influence on the campus. 14 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES