LIBRARIES IN GERMANY, NIGERIA AND SPAIN DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

Press Release
PI/920

LIBRARIES IN GERMANY, NIGERIA AND SPAIN DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

Four libraries in three countries have been designated United Nations depository libraries, making them part of an international network of 351 libraries in 140 countries that brings United Nations documents and publications to users around the world.

Potsdam University Library in Germany, the Edo State University Library in Ekpoma, Nigeria, and the law libraries of the Carlos III University and the Complutense University, both in Madrid, Spain, are the most recent additions to the United Nations system of depository libraries.

Potsdam University, completed its founding in 1994. Its library became the eleventh United Nations depository library in Germany. Other depository libraries in that country are located in Berlin (2), Bochum, Bonn, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Jena, Kiel, Leipzig and Munich. The Potsdam University Library took over, among others, the library of the former Academy of State and Law in Potsdam, Babelsberg, which had acquired a substantial United Nations collection as a government body. The library has about 800,000 volumes of books and bound periodicals, 1,780 dissertations/theses and 9,400 music scores. It subscribes to 1,450 periodicals and has 60 librarians on its staff. More than 10,000 readers use the library annually.

The Edo State University Library in Ekpoma, Nigeria, became the country's seventh United Nations depository library. Others are located in Lagos (2), Ile-Ife, Nsukka, Port Harcourt and Zaria. The University was established in 1981 as Bendel State University. As a result of political changes, the University was renamed Edo State University in 1991. The University Library has about 105,000 volumes of monographs and 5,000 volumes of bound periodicals and other materials. It has 20 professional librarians and 20,000 registered users.

The Law Faculty Library of the University Carlos III in Madrid is the sixth United Nations depository library in Spain. Others are located in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid (2). The University was founded in 1980. The law library has a collection of 125,000 volumes and subscribes to 1,714 periodicals, and is fully automated. It has a staff of 63 librarians and 10,000 registered users. A separate area has been reserved to house the new collection. The seventh United Nations depository library established in

- 2 - Press Release PI/920 24 October 1995

Spain is the Law Faculty Library of the Complutense University in Madrid. That university, one of the oldest in Spain, was founded in 1508. Nineteen faculties are attached to the University which has an enrolment of 124,150 students and 5,000 faculty members. Its Library has a collection of 1,500,000 volumes and subscribes to 20,000 periodicals. The United Nations collection will be housed in the Library of the Department of International Public and Private Law of the Law Faculty. Approximately 10,000 users have access to its 8,000 volumes and 1,514 periodicals.

Since 1946, the Dag Hammarskjold Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York, which is part of the Department of Public Information, has arranged for the distribution of United Nations documents and publications to users around the world through its depository library system.

At present, 50 depository libraries in Africa, 95 in Asia and the Pacific, 28 in eastern Europe, 82 in western Europe, 44 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 52 in North America receive those materials, with the understanding that their collections will be maintained in good working order and be available to the public free of charge.

United Nations Member States, as well as non-members, are entitled to one "free depository", usually the national library in the capital city. In addition, the national parliamentary library, if open to the public, is also entitled to receive material free of charge. Other depository libraries pay a token annual contribution to receive United Nations documentation. Developing countries pay a significantly smaller amount.

The designation of depositories is carried out by the United Nations Publications Board. The degree of development of the requesting libraries and the overall geographic distribution of depository libraries in the countries concerned are among the criteria used.

United Nations professional librarians and information officers make periodic visits to the depository libraries to provide assistance and training in the management of the United Nations collection. In addition, special training seminars for depository librarians are periodically organized by the Dag Hammarskjold Library, Department of Public Information, New York, and by the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

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