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Books Across Borders pp 247–268Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Conclusion: From the Postwar to Today

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Part of the book series: New Directions in Book History ((NDBH))

Abstract

This chapter concludes this book with a case study of one of the few physical library reconstruction projects UNESCO undertook during the postwar years. The example of the library in Valognes, France, badly damaged by Allied bombardment during liberation, is used to illustrate inherent unfairness and perceived biases within UNESCO at the time. The conflict heightened around 1951 with the downsizing of UNESCO’s Reconstruction Program. War-devastated countries felt the shift away from their ongoing issues was occurring too quickly while those from the growing number of recently decolonized countries pushed for the prioritization of other needs. The chapter also addresses present-day governmental and societal treatment of and approaches to books, libraries, and information in the United States, arguing for their continued significance and relevance, particularly during difficult and chaotic times.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Michael Dowling, “UNESCO Withdrawal Will Slow Progress on Global Library Initiatives,” American Libraries, 18 October 2017. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/UNESCO-withdrawal-will-slow-progress-on-global-library-initiatives/. Accessed 8 September 2018.

  2. 2.

    American Library Association, Charter of 1879, revised 1942. http://www.ala.org/aboutala/charter-1879-revised-1942. Accessed 8 September 2018.

  3. 3.

    Roosevelt to Evans, 13 June 1941. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York.

  4. 4.

    “ALA Council Urges Congress to Act Toward Becoming Fully Functioning Member of UNESCO,” ALA News, 4 March 2013. The resolution was adopted 29 January 2013 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

  5. 5.

    Katalin Bogyay, Speech, Soft Power Conference, Budapest, 23 November 2012. http://unesdoc.UNESCO.org/images/0021/002187/218708E.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2017.

  6. 6.

    Note sur les destructions des livres dans les bibliothèques publiques de province de 1939 à 1945, undated. Archives nationales à Fontainebleau (hereafter AnF), N° de versement 19,780,678, Dossier 12 Rapports d’expertise, 1951–1958.

  7. 7.

    See Alain Girard, Catalogues Régionaux des Incunables des Bibliothèques Publiques de France , vol. IV Bibliothèques de la Région Basse-Normandie (Bordeaux: Société des Bibliophiles de Guyenne, 1984), 167–171.

  8. 8.

    David Leff, “Tales of Three Cities in Normandy, Part I: Buried Treasure awaits discovery in abandoned library of bombed Valognes,” Impetus : A Monthly Review of Reconstruction in Education, Science and Culture IV:5 (May 1950): 17.

  9. 9.

    Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2006), 235.

  10. 10.

    Leff , “Tales of Three Cities,” 18.

  11. 11.

    Leff , “Tales of Three Cities,” 19.

  12. 12.

    [partial clipping] “Danske studenter redder kostbar fransk bogskat,” unknown newspaper, undated. Rigsarkivet, DISfonden 1948–1962 Avisudklip vedr. Studenterforhold 1950, m.m. 62–63, Box 10,027, Folder: Presseudklip 1950–51, 7.

  13. 13.

    Girard, Catalogues Régionaux des Incunables des Bibliothèques Publiques de France , 168–169.

  14. 14.

    “UNESCO’s Library Field Missions and Fellowships,” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries X:11–12 (November–December 1956): 279.

  15. 15.

    On Dunkirk: Press Release No. 549, Paris, 14 August 1951, British Students Reconstruct French Damaged Libraries. Biblioteki Naradowej w Warszawie [National Library of Poland], Library and Information Science Reading Room, TD-162 UNESCO 1946–1952.

  16. 16.

    P. Ogrodzinski, Ministre Plenipotentiaire, Charge d’Affaires a.i. de Pologne, Ambasada Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej to John W. Taylor, Interim Director-General, 5 December 1952. UA, X 07.21 (438), Relations with Poland – Official.

  17. 17.

    Experts meeting on educational and scientific reconstruction of war-devastated countries, called by UNESCO, unanimously adopts decisions on cultural reconstruction. Press Release 53/49, Paris 16 May 1949. UA, 361.9 A 06 (44) “49.05” Int. Conf. of Representatives of War Devastated Countries – Paris May 1949.

  18. 18.

    Outline of the Reconstruction Programme for the Years 1951–1955. UA, X07.55 REC Programme, Budget & Organization of Reconstruction, Relief & Rehabilitation.

  19. 19.

    Joan Smith, “A Man for all Seasons,” Lien/Link (1993).

  20. 20.

    UNESCO Staff Lists and Departments, 1945–1952. UA.

  21. 21.

    Director-General to Head, Reconstruction Service, 14 November 1950. UA, X 07.55 REC, Programme, Budget & Organization of Reconstruction, Relief & Rehabilitation.

  22. 22.

    See Maurel, “L’action de l’UNESCO dans le domaine de la reconstruction”; Gail Archibald, Les États-Unis et l’UNESCO 1944–1963: Les rêves peuvent-ils résister à la réalité des relations internationales? (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1993).

  23. 23.

    Bernard Drzewieski. UA, Personnel Files.

  24. 24.

    Robert Voleur, typescript eulogy, Bernard Drzewieski. UA Personnel files.

  25. 25.

    P. Ogrodzinski, Ministre Plenipotentiaire, Charge d’Affaires a.i. de Pologne, Ambasada Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej to John W. Taylor, Interim Director-General, 5 December 1952. UA, X 07.21 (438), Relations with Poland – Official.

  26. 26.

    Ministry of Higher Education to all libraries in Poland, 30 January 1953. Biblioteka Uniwersytecka w Warszawie (BUW), Warsaw University Library Archives. Correspondence with the archivist, September 2011.

  27. 27.

    Donald G. Davis, assisted by Nathaniel Feis, “‘With Malice Toward None’” IFLA and the Cold War,” Libraries & Culture 36:1 (Winter 2001): 3.

  28. 28.

    Vernon Clapp, “Editorial, UNESCO – Ten Years After,” American Documentation (1956): ii.

  29. 29.

    Sir Ernest Barker, Restoration of Libraries,” [excerpt from speech given at the ceremony closing the IABC, 6 December 1946], The Library Association Record 49:1 (January 1947): 3.

  30. 30.

    Zuckerman , Memoir, 56.

  31. 31.

    Untitled, unsigned, undated typescript. Zuckerman Family Papers; Joan Smith, “A Man for all Seasons,” Lien/Link 44 (April–June 1993): 17.

  32. 32.

    Bertrand, Bibliothèque publique et public library, 202–203.

  33. 33.

    Fiscal Year 2019 Budget of the US Government. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/msar-fy2019.pdf. Accessed 10 September 2018; Andrew Albanese, “Trump Renews Bid to Eliminate Library Funding, NEA, and NEH,” Publishers’ Weekly, 12 February 2018.

  34. 34.

    Klinenberg, Eric. 2018. To Restore Civil Society, Start With the Library. The New York Times, 8 September 2018.

  35. 35.

    Kathy S. Rosa, editor, “The State of America’s Libraries 2017: A Report from the American Library Association,” American Libraries Special Report (April 2017), 2. http://www.ala.org/news/sites/ala.org.news/files/content/State-of-Americas-Libraries-Report-2017.pdf. Accessed 20 September 2018.

  36. 36.

    IFLA, “How To Spot Fake News,” 17 July 2018. https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174. Accessed 2 September 2018.

  37. 37.

    “IFLA Trend Report 2017 Update,” 5. https://trends.ifla.org/files/trends/assets/documents/ifla_trend_report_2017.pdf. Accessed 21 August 2018.

  38. 38.

    Libraries Without Borders/Bibliothèques sans frontières, “About Us.” https://www.librarieswithoutborders.org/about-us/. Accessed 3 December 2017.

  39. 39.

    Volker Berghahn, “Debating the Future of Industrial Society: American and European Social Scientists during the Cold War, 1945–1965,” paper presented at Faculty House, Columbia University, 22 April 2010.

  40. 40.

    Klinenberg, “To Restore Civil Society.”

  41. 41.

    Audrey Azoulay, “Message on the Occasion of World Book and Copyright Day,” 23 April 2018. http://unesdoc.UNESCO.org/images/0026/002619/261983e.pdf. Accessed 20 September 2018.

  42. 42.

    Mohammed Abu Salaiman, with Chris Niles, “How Girls Built a Library in the Gaza Strip,” UNICEF Newsline 18 December 2017. https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt_102342.html. Accessed 20 September 2018.

  43. 43.

    Ginny Mies, “The Power of the Library in a War-Torn Afghan Village,” Public Libraries Online (15 August 2016); Mujib Mashal, “To Feed Hungry Minds, Afghans Seed a Ravaged Land With Books,” The New York Times (30 March 2016).

  44. 44.

    Lisa Peet, “Ferguson Library Provides Calm Refuge for a Torn Community,” Library Journal (25 November 2014).

  45. 45.

    Julia Pyatetsky, “Refugees Supported by Public Libraries in Europe,” Public Libraries Online (24 November 2014).

  46. 46.

    The European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations, “Press Release: Public Libraries in Europe Welcome Refugees,” 21 September 2015. http://www.eblida.org/news/press-release-public-libraries-in-europe-welcome-refugees.html. Accessed 10 September 2018.

  47. 47.

    Excerpt from a speech by Eleanor Roosevelt at the presentation of “In Your Hands: A Guide for Community Action for the Tenth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 27 March 1958, United Nations, New York. http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/bkd_oh/sources/bkd_oh_template.jsp?name=roosevelte&bk=bkd_oh&state=bo. Accessed 5 January 2019.

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  1. Alden Library, Ohio University Libraries, Athens, OH, USA

    Miriam Intrator

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  1. Miriam Intrator
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Intrator, M. (2019). Conclusion: From the Postwar to Today. In: Books Across Borders. New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15816-3_8

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