FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD LIBRARY: LEGACY OF A SECRETARY-GENERAL

Note to Correspondents

FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD LIBRARY:  LEGACY OF A SECRETARY-GENERAL

A one-day symposium, “The 40th anniversary of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library: Legacy of a Secretary-General”, organized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library (DHL), will be held on Friday, 1 March 2002, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. in the newly renovated DHL Auditorium.  The event will take place in order to pay tribute to Dag Hammarskjöld, who devoted himself to peace in the world, and to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the dedication of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, which is a legacy of the late Secretary-General.

On 17 September 1961, Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was on a flight to Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, for a meeting to settle the question relating to the Congo, when he and seven other United Nations staff members, as well as the crew of the aircraft, were killed in a crash.  Prior to his tragic death, Dag Hammarskjöld was very much involved in the process of building a new United Nations Library.  On 16 November 1961, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library was formally dedicated.

The year 2001 was the fortieth anniversary of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, as well as of the dedication of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. 

The symposium, which was rescheduled from 16 November 2001, will consist of a morning session, “Dag Hammarskjöld and the United Nations Library as a library promoting peace” (9:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.), and an afternoon session, “The changing role of the DHL –- Bridging the information gap between developing and developed countries” (2 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.).  It will be addressed by Ambassador Motomura of Japan.

The morning panel will be moderated by Shashi Tharoor, Interim Head of the Department of Public Information (DPI).  It will also be addressed by Brian Urquhart, former Under-Secretary-General and biographer of Dag Hammarskjöld, Alexander Wilde, Vice President for Communications, Ford Foundation; and four distinguished librarians:  Gérald Grunberg, France; Bob McKee, United Kingdom; Winston Tabb, United States; and Gunnel Torén, Sweden.  A panel discussion will follow.

The afternoon panel will be moderated by Raymond Sommereyns, Director, Library and Information Resources Division, DPI.  The panel will consist of

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10 distinguished librarians from all over the world:  John A. Aarons, Jamaica; Elsa E. Barber, Argentina; Roch Carrier, Canada; Victor Vasilievich Fedorov, Russian Federation; Samir Gharib, Egypt; Hiroshi Kawamura, Japan; Christine Kisiedu, Ghana; P.B. Mangla, India; Sun Beixin, China; and Sin Joan Yee, Fiji.

For further information, please call Junko Sato at (212) 963-7431, or visit the DHL Web site (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/symposium/index.html).

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