Founded in 1948 on the initiative of the britosdh delegation, the United Nations Deposit Library (UNDL) extends a claim of mandatory deposit to all member nations of the UNO. Publishers wishing to register copyright for any book or journal must submit one free copy to the UNDL through their government. Originally, the obligation was purely one-sided, though the United Nations Convention on Universal Copyright of 1954 stated that all original works submitted would automatically be extended the minimal protection under UN law even in nations where copyright law otherwise required separate registration.
The UNDL was originally sited in a warehouse complex Newark, NJ, but moved to Glen Cove, NY, when space ran out in 1951. This was to remain its home for decades to come. By the mid-1980s, however, concerns about further expansion needed to keep up with deposits and an increasing hostility by local government to the 'encroachment' by the UN led to a motion to move the library submitted by the United States. It was carried in the UNGA in 1988 and the search for a new location begun. After a four-year process, the final candidates were narrowed down to Alexandria in Egypt and Mainz in Germany. Despite an impassioned plea by the Egyptian Director of Antiquities, the General Assembly voted to give the institution to reunited Germany. In 1998, the UNDL moved to its new home at the purpose-built multibillion-euro Gutenberg Centre near Mainz.
Structure
The UNDL is an institution of the United Nations and answerable directly to the Secretary General, but its system of national stacks sections allow individual member states a degree of control over aspects of its internal workings unusual for a UN body. This was established at the insistence of the USSR on foundation. It allows submitting countries to nominate the librarian ion charge of their submitted works and exercise a degree of control over the registration and filing system as well as vetting and dismissing staff permitted access. During the early Cold War, this system frequently led to understaffing and the emergence of what were in effect parallel national libraries under the umbrella of the UNDL. The most notorious incident of this time was the 1956 fire in the Soviet stacks that destroyed numerous works considered politically embarrassing. The Soviet head librarian at the time refused access to local fire brigades for two hours while supervising firefighting efforts by his own staff.
The UNDL today continues to be encumbered with overcomplex and unnecessarily redundant systems. National stacks continue, though most member countries today agree to enter their publications into a superordinate registration based on the Dewey system (China, North Korea, Mozambique, France, Belgium and Equatorial Guinea are not part of this). Several stacks today represent or once represented joint efforts by several countries, including the Francophonie collection (including all books published in member countries between 1956 and 1963), the Arab League stacks, the remarkably frictrion-free Nordic stacks (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and the jointly administered FSU stacks. A further point of contention has always been the proceduire for dealing with books published in states not recognised by other members. The Chinese stacks have been jointly administered since 1983, but appointments of staff are usually cause for friction and the backlog consequently large. The East German collection is still inadequately serviced after the staff - on being notified of their summary dismissal following reunification - destroyed the card catalogue before walking out. Morocco refuses to accept any publications claiming to originate from 'Western Sahara' and the admission of a Kosovar section promises to be contentious. Meanwhile, Pakistan accepts copies of books published in all Kashmir despite several protests by India. It also administered the abandoned Afghan collection between 1985 and 2002.
Technically, all national head librarians hold equal rank and are directly answerable to the UNDL Chief Librarian (appointed by the Secretary General). They in turn manage their own library staff ranging from a handful (as in the case of Oman) to hundreds (in the case of the United States). The Chief Librarian also directly supervises the custodial, security and maintenance staff, the conservation unit and the Universal Copyright Administration.
Universal Copyright
The Universal Copyright Convention charged the UNDL with administering its registration. This continues to be its most contentious charge and has given rise to several clashes between mostly Western proponents of extending copyright and the nations intent on limiting its scope. In practice, the UNDL's Universal Copyright Administration has no effective sanctions at its disposal. It can not even deny admittance to national stacks to works adjudicated in violation of copyright if national librarians do not agree.
Access
The UNDL is technically open to the public, though it is strictly a non-lending research library and tables must be pre-booked. It is today mostly used in this capacity by European scholars looking for hard-to-find publications from exotic locales. UN institutions are entitled to request the loan of books for research purposes.
So, what if this thing existed?
The UNDL was originally sited in a warehouse complex Newark, NJ, but moved to Glen Cove, NY, when space ran out in 1951. This was to remain its home for decades to come. By the mid-1980s, however, concerns about further expansion needed to keep up with deposits and an increasing hostility by local government to the 'encroachment' by the UN led to a motion to move the library submitted by the United States. It was carried in the UNGA in 1988 and the search for a new location begun. After a four-year process, the final candidates were narrowed down to Alexandria in Egypt and Mainz in Germany. Despite an impassioned plea by the Egyptian Director of Antiquities, the General Assembly voted to give the institution to reunited Germany. In 1998, the UNDL moved to its new home at the purpose-built multibillion-euro Gutenberg Centre near Mainz.
Structure
The UNDL is an institution of the United Nations and answerable directly to the Secretary General, but its system of national stacks sections allow individual member states a degree of control over aspects of its internal workings unusual for a UN body. This was established at the insistence of the USSR on foundation. It allows submitting countries to nominate the librarian ion charge of their submitted works and exercise a degree of control over the registration and filing system as well as vetting and dismissing staff permitted access. During the early Cold War, this system frequently led to understaffing and the emergence of what were in effect parallel national libraries under the umbrella of the UNDL. The most notorious incident of this time was the 1956 fire in the Soviet stacks that destroyed numerous works considered politically embarrassing. The Soviet head librarian at the time refused access to local fire brigades for two hours while supervising firefighting efforts by his own staff.
The UNDL today continues to be encumbered with overcomplex and unnecessarily redundant systems. National stacks continue, though most member countries today agree to enter their publications into a superordinate registration based on the Dewey system (China, North Korea, Mozambique, France, Belgium and Equatorial Guinea are not part of this). Several stacks today represent or once represented joint efforts by several countries, including the Francophonie collection (including all books published in member countries between 1956 and 1963), the Arab League stacks, the remarkably frictrion-free Nordic stacks (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and the jointly administered FSU stacks. A further point of contention has always been the proceduire for dealing with books published in states not recognised by other members. The Chinese stacks have been jointly administered since 1983, but appointments of staff are usually cause for friction and the backlog consequently large. The East German collection is still inadequately serviced after the staff - on being notified of their summary dismissal following reunification - destroyed the card catalogue before walking out. Morocco refuses to accept any publications claiming to originate from 'Western Sahara' and the admission of a Kosovar section promises to be contentious. Meanwhile, Pakistan accepts copies of books published in all Kashmir despite several protests by India. It also administered the abandoned Afghan collection between 1985 and 2002.
Technically, all national head librarians hold equal rank and are directly answerable to the UNDL Chief Librarian (appointed by the Secretary General). They in turn manage their own library staff ranging from a handful (as in the case of Oman) to hundreds (in the case of the United States). The Chief Librarian also directly supervises the custodial, security and maintenance staff, the conservation unit and the Universal Copyright Administration.
Universal Copyright
The Universal Copyright Convention charged the UNDL with administering its registration. This continues to be its most contentious charge and has given rise to several clashes between mostly Western proponents of extending copyright and the nations intent on limiting its scope. In practice, the UNDL's Universal Copyright Administration has no effective sanctions at its disposal. It can not even deny admittance to national stacks to works adjudicated in violation of copyright if national librarians do not agree.
Access
The UNDL is technically open to the public, though it is strictly a non-lending research library and tables must be pre-booked. It is today mostly used in this capacity by European scholars looking for hard-to-find publications from exotic locales. UN institutions are entitled to request the loan of books for research purposes.
So, what if this thing existed?