LIBRARIES IN PAKISTAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, UNITED STATES AND VANUATU DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

LIBRARIES IN PAKISTAN, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, UNITED STATESAND VANUATU

DESIGNATED UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES

Four libraries, located in Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Vanuatu, have been designated United Nations depository libraries, becoming part of an international network of 388 libraries in 144 countries and territories that bring United Nations documents and publications to users around the world.  They are Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lahore, Pakistan), Chonnam National University Library (Kwangju, Republic of Korea), Southwest Missouri State University (Springfield, Missouri, United States) and Emalus Campus Library of the University of the South Pacific (Port Vila, Vanuatu).

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) is a national university established in 1985 by a group of industrial and financial corporations.  The LUMS Library, besides supporting the university curriculum, features a Business and Management Information Service which provides, at the national level, substantial outreach to the business and academic communities of the country, as well as to the general public.  The library has been a World Bank depository since 1994 and was recently designated as a depository by the Asian Development Bank.  It holds approximately 43,000 volumes and offers access to a broad range of online services; four staff members manage the United Nations deposit, which consists of printed publications and Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) masthead documents in English.

Founded in 1952, Chonnam National University (CNU) is situated in Kwangju, the regional centre for the southwestern part of the country.  The CNU Library, which opened in 1953, is located in a spacious modern research facility and can seat more than 4,700 users.  The library holds over 600,000 volumes and offers its users access to online information services.  Open to the public from the year 2000, the library is strengthening its role as a leading information centre in Kwangju and the Chonnan region.  Two persons are assigned to manage the United Nations deposit, which consists of printed publications and ESCAP masthead documents in English.

Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) is a multi-campus metropolitan institution with a statewide mission in public affairs.  As the host site for Missouri’s largest Model United Nations programme, SMSU recently sponsored the twenty-sixth Mid-America Model United Nations, with over 250 students from Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri attending.  The SMSU library system is open to the public and offers its users access to a wide variety of electronic resources. 

Now holding over 2.9 million items, it recently acquired a collection of United Nations publications covering the years 1946 to 1994.  Its United Nations deposit, managed by a staff of three persons, consists of printed publications and masthead documents in English.

Emalus Campus, a subsidiary of the University of the South Pacific (USP), is home to the USP School of Law.  The campus library is open to the public and serves government departments and legal institutions in Vanuatu.  For the present time, pending expansion of its premises, the library receives only an electronic deposit (access to the full text of parliamentary documents and treaties); in future, printed publications and ESCAP masthead documents in English will be added to its United Nations deposit.

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, there are 388 United Nations depository libraries:  56 are located in Africa, 92 in Asia and the Pacific, 17 in Western Asia, 34 in Eastern Europe, 86 in Western Europe, 48 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 55 in North America.  These libraries receive United Nations materials, with the understanding that their collections will be maintained in good order and made available to the general 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 than developed countries.

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 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 in New York and by the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

* *** *