LIBRARIES IN AUSTRIA, INDIA AND ZIMBABWE DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES
Press Release
PI/957
LIBRARIES IN AUSTRIA, INDIA AND ZIMBABWE DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES
19960620 Three libraries, located in Austria, India and Zimbabwe, have been designated United Nations depository libraries, making them part of an international network of 355 libraries in 142 countries that brings United Nations documents and publications to users around the world. They are Europainstitut, the Goa University Library, and the Zimbabwe Library of Parliament.The Europainstitut in Salzburg, founded in January 1995, carries out research on European and international relations. Last June, it was designated a depository of the Council of Europe. Its library has a collection of 15,000 volumes; the main users are the faculty members and students of the University of Salzburg. The Library's fully equipped reading room can accommodate up to 25 readers, and it is connected to the Internet.
Goa University is the only university in the State of Goa. Founded in 1985, it is one of the most renowned institutions for higher learning in India. Its library has more than 90,000 volumes of monographs, bound serials and other materials, in a building that can accommodate 500 readers and more than half a million books. It is fully equipped with binding facilities, reading and conference rooms, 40 carrels and a separate audio-visual room, and its services are being computerized. Its staff of 21, including eight professional librarians, serves 1,200 registered users.
The Zimbabwe Library of Parliament in Harare has some 160,000 volumes. Its collection includes a wide range of parliamentary and government documents obtained from Commonwealth countries, and a general collection of monographs and serials on political science, history, foreign relations and related subjects. Its staff of 10, including four professional librarians, serves 1,300 registered users.
Since 1946, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at United Nations Headquarters in New York, which is part of the Department of Public Information (DPI), has arranged for the distribution of United Nations documents and publications to users around the world through its depository library system. At present, 51 depository libraries in Africa, 97 in Asia and the Pacific, 29 in Eastern Europe,
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83 in Western Europe, 44 in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 51 in North America receive these 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 Hammarskjöld Library, Department of Public Information, New York, and by the United Nations Office at Geneva.
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