Dartmouth Library Collection Development Policy

For the purpose of this collection development policy, an intergovernmental organization (IGO) is defined as "a formal arrangement transcending national boundaries that provides for [a forum] to facilitate cooperation among members in security, economic, social, or related fields." [Ziring, Lawrence. International Relations: A Political Dictionary . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1995, 327]. A foreign government refers to "a social group that shares a common ideology, institutions, and customs, and a sense of homogeneity." [Ibid., 44]. Official publications are defined as all materials published by an intergovernmental organization or by a foreign government. Principal publications include guides to the publications, bibliographies and catalogs, directories and organization manuals, statistical compilations, laws and regulations, legislative proceedings, and statements of policy. Other official publications from a foreign government may include central bank publications; budget and census reports; titles concerning health, labor, and education; and court decisions.

Historically, Dartmouth College's curriculum has never included any courses dealing specifically with the official publications of intergovernmental organizations and/or foreign governments. Over the years, however, these publications have been used by students and faculty associated with courses on international economic policies, international law, international organization, comparative government, and British history and politics offered through the departments of Economics, Government and History. The first course on international organizations, which emphasized the workings of the League of Nations, was established in the late twenties and was heartily supported by the Library when it became a depository for these official publications thanks to the generosity of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

As a result of the creation of the United Nations in 1945 and doubtlessly due to the Dartmouth College connection at the founding conference of this organization [see the following section on Special Collections and Manuscripts], courses on international organizations proliferated during this period and for the next several years. With an increased interest in international organizations came also an increased demand for the primary documentation of these organizations thus resulting in the acquisition of the Official Records of the United Nations and the comprehensive microprint collection of United Nations publications published by Readex, a Division of NewsBank. One of the more popular courses during this period was History 54, History of International Organizations, taught by Professor Waldo Chamberlin, former Documents Officer of the United Nations. [see the following section on Special Collections and Manuscripts].

From the seventies to the early nineties, one of the most popular courses at Dartmouth College was Government 55 (International Organization) under the distinguished tutelage of Professors Donald McNemar and Gene Lyons. Since the students of "Govy 55" were required to access United Nations documentation there was heavy use of these materials. Unfortunately, upon the retirement of Professor Lyons in the early nineties, the focus of Govy 55 changed and students in this course no longer used these publications. The nineties, however, has also seen an increased interest in intergovernmental documents by faculty and students in Environmental Studies; in fact, students taking the foundation course (ES 3: Social and Political Aspects of the Environment) are expected to use United Nations publications in order to fulfill the requirements of this course.

Historically, the selection of official publications of foreign governments has been limited primarily to the national bibliographies and the annual statistical compilations of the major countries of the world. Exceptions include Great Britain and for a period of time France and India. Throughout the history of the college, numerous courses have been devoted to British political and constitutional history; and, in order to support these courses, the Library has routinely purchased selected serials and monographs from the British government's Her Majesty's Stationery Office [HMSO] and selected historical documents from commercial publishers. Among the latter are the microprint/microfiche British Sessional Papers and the state papers of a variety of British monarchs. Also, extensive collections of selected official publications from other countries, most notably Russia and other East European nations, are included in such commercial series as Transdex and the World News Connection.

GENERAL PURPOSE

The collection of official publications of intergovernmental organizations and foreign governments supports the instructional and research needs and personal interests of Dartmouth College undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty, as well as other users within and beyond the college community.

No specific fund exists for the purchase of publications from intergovernmental organizations and foreign governments. Many official publications from IGOs are received as blanket standing orders and are charged to either the general fund or to a specific subject fund. Those not received on standing order are purchased selectively by individual bibliographers and are charged generally to a specific subject fund. Foreign government publications are charged to either the reference fund or to a specific subject fund.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM

Although there are no degree programs offered in the areas of intergovernmental and foreign government official publications, these publications play an important role in the academic teaching and research programs of Dartmouth College. Students in government and economic courses are often required to utilize current official publications in their course work and research projects. Major historical collections of British publications are collected to support the research needs of students in the History Department. Both the Government and History Department also offer a Foreign Study Program in London, and the student participants are required to access official British government publications before they begin this program.

The collection attracts also faculty and students from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, the Dartmouth Medical School, Earth Sciences, the Environmental Studies Program, Geography, Sociology, and the Thayer School of Engineering. The collection also supports the needs of the staffs and students of the Dickey Center, Forensic Union, Model United Nations, Rockefeller Center, World Affairs Council, and World Outlook, and attracts users from the Institute for Lifelong Education at Dartmouth [ILEAD] and special institutes that are offered during the summer [notable among these are the Dartmouth Debate Institute for high school debaters and the Alumni College].

GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES

Official publications of intergovernmental organizations and foreign governments are cataloged and class in Baker Stacks or at another Dartmouth library. Major exceptions are the Official Records of the principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council, etc.) of the United Nations, the Oceana Publications series entitled Constitutions of the Countries of the World, and the latest editions of statistical yearbooks from both IGOs and foreign governments, all of which are housed at the Government Documents Center in Baker Library. For a number of years the Library subscribed to a collection of mimeographed documents available from the UN Sales Section. These documents were maintained in file cabinets for two years and then discarded when replaced by the Readex microprint/microfiche collection. When the demand for the mimeographed documents decreased markedly and the annual subscription costs increased dramatically, the subscription was canceled in the mid-nineties. Comprehensive microform collections of United Nations publications, British government documents, and translations of selected foreign government publications are located in the Jones Microtext Center. Official publications of the Canadian government are treated in another collection development policy statement (see policy statement for Canadian Government Publications].

LANGUAGES

English is the primary language of the collection of documents from the IGOs, but no language is excluded. The official publications of foreign governments are collected, for the most part, in the language of the country.

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

There are no geographical limitations.

TYPES OF MATERIAL COLLECTED

Monographs, serials, and the official records, issued by selected IGOs and foreign governments, are routinely collected in print and in microfiche. Major indexes are collected in both print and in an electronic version. Also, standard print reference sources, especially statistical yearbooks and bibliographic tools, and maps/atlases are acquired on a regular basis. Monographs and serials that contain information about IGOs and foreign governments are collected, but they do not fall within the purview of this policy statement (see the policy statements for Economics and Government).

FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED

No format is excluded. More and more intergovernmental and foreign government information including full text documents are being made available in an electronic form via CD-ROM and especially via the Internet through interfaces like the World Wide Web.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS

The Dartmouth College Library is the recipient of a number of invaluable collections of primary resources concerning the history and development of intergovernmental organizations. Among these are the personal papers of John Sloan Dickey, 12th President of Dartmouth College and delegate to the United Nations Conference on International Organization; Waldo Chamberlin, first Documents Officer of the United Nations, author of several reference books on the United Nations, and professor of international relations at New York University and Dartmouth College; Grenville Clark, author, public servant, and civil rights and peace activist; and Clyde Eagleton, professor, career diplomat, and delegate to the founding conference of the United Nations.

OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Requests for information or publications, not available in the Dartmouth College Library's collection, are directed to the individual IGOs and foreign government agencies, to foreign missions and to the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the United Nations. Excellent bibliographic access is available via the Research Libraries Group's (RLG) "Eureka on the Web". The American Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) International Documents Task Force in co-operation with the Northwestern University Library maintains an "International Organizations" and "Foreign Governments" home page on the Internet with links to IGOs and national governments that provide information, selective full text documents, and lists of available publications. The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) also provides access to information about and online catalogs of most of Europe's national libraries. The Dartmouth College Library also subscribes to the World News Connection on the Internet; a foreign news services from the U. S. government that provides access to selective foreign government publications.

Creation Date

January 1984 (Robert D. Jaccaud)

Revision Date

February 1994 (Robert D. Jaccaud)
December 1997 (Robert D. Jaccaud)

LC Class

Not Applicable

Bibliographer

John Cocklin

List of URLs

American Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable (GODART)
International Documents Task Force/Northwestern University Library Home Page
Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
[http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/idtf/igo.html]
Foreign Governments
[http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/idtf/foreign.html]

Asian Development Bank (ADB)
[Home Page: http://www.asiandevbank.org/]
[Publications: http://www.asiandevbank.org/menpub.html]

Conference of European National Librarians (CENL)
[http://renki.helsinki.fi/gabriel/en/cenl-general.html]

Dartmouth College Library: Collection Management & Development
Program/Collection Development Policies:
Canadian Government Publications
[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cmdc/cdp/canadagovpub.html]

Economics
[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cmdc/cdp/economics.html]

Government
[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cmdc/cdp/government.html]

Government Documents Center
[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~govdocs/]

European Union [EU]
[Home Page: http://www.europa.eu.int/index-en.htm]
[Publications: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/opoce/_en/index.htm]

Food & Agriculture Organization [FAO]
[Home Page: http://www.fao.org/]
[Publications: http://www.fao.org/catalog/giphome.htm]

Great Britain
Her Majesty's Stationery Office [HMSO]
[Home Page: http://www.official-documents.co.uk/menu/ukpinf.htm]

International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]
[Home Page: http://www.iaea.or.at/]
[Publications: http://www.iaea.or.at/worldatom/publications/]

International Labour Organization [ILO]
[Home Page: http://www.ilo.org/]
[Publications: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/180publn/index.htm]

International Monetary Fund [IMF]
[Home Page: http://www.imf.org/]
[Publications: http://www.imf.org/external/pubind.htm]

North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]
[Home Page: http://www.nato.int/]

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD]
[Home Page: http://www.oecd.org/]
[Publications: http://www.oecd.org/publications/]

Organization of American States [OAS]
[Home Page: http://www.oas.org/]
[Publications: http://www.oas.org/EN/PINFO/pvoi.htm]

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC]
[Home Page: http://www.opec.org/]
[Publications: http://www.opec.org/publications.htm]

Pan American Health Organization [PAHO]
[Home Page: http://www.paho.org]
[Publications: http://www.paho.org/english/publicat.htm]

Readex, a Division of NewsBank
[Home Page: http://www.newsbank.com:80/readex/index.html]

Research Libraries Group [RLG]
["Eureka on the Web": http://eureka.rlg.org/]

United Nations [UN]
United Nations System of Organizations
[http://www.unsystem.org]

Dag Hammarskjold Library
[http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/]

Dag Hammarskjold Library: UN-I-QUE:United Nations Info Quest
[http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/unique/]

Documents
[http://www.un.org/Docs/]

Publications
[http://www.un.org/Pubs/]

United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization [UNESCO]
[Home Page: http://www.unesco.org/]
[Publications: http://www.unesco.org/general/eng/publish/index.html]

United Nations Industrial Development Organization [UNIDO]
[Home Page: http://www.unido.org/]
[Publications:http://www.unido.org/start/publications/navigator.htmls]

World Bank Group
[Home Page: http://www.worldbank.org/]
[Publications: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extpb/Publications.html]

World Health Organization [WHO]
[Home Page: http://www.who.ch/]
[Publications: http://www.who.ch/programmes/pll/pll_index.html]

World Meteorological Organization [WMO]
[Home Page: http://www.wmo.ch/]
[Publications: http://www.wmo.ch/web/catalogue/New%20HTML/frame/frame.htm]

World News Connection [http://wnc.fedworld.gov/]

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Last updated May 11, 1999 by: (z)

Dartmouth College Library Collection Management & Development Program Collection Development Policy

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (IGO) AND FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

Dartmouth College Library
Collection Management & Development Program
Collection Development Policy

INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (IGO) AND FOREIGN
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS