Adlib Internet Server 5

Title
Records of the British Society for International Bibliography
Reference
BSIB
Production date
1922 - 1937

Creator

British Society for International Bibliography Biography Biography
The British Society for International Bibliography (BSIB) was founded in 1927 by Samuel C. Bradford, Chief Librarian at the Science Museum Library, and A. F. C. Pollard, a professor at Imperial College, London. Bradford and Pollard were both advocates of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), a system of bibliographic and library classification developed by the International Institute of Bibliography (IIB), later the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), based in Brussels. The BSIB was created to serve as a ‘daughter society’ and British committee of the IIB with the aim of ‘promoting the use of bibliographic methods’, furthering the use of UDC and, ultimately, contributing to the creation of a world bibliography. A. F. C Pollard served as the first President of the Society from its creation in 1927, with Walter Clark as secretary. Samuel C. Bradford succeeded Pollard in 1945, serving as President until the amalgamation of the BSIB with the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (Aslib) in 1948. Bradford also edited the Proceedings of the British Society for International Bibliography from its inception in 1939.

Scope and Content
The collection comprises nine series in two boxes. Series 1 comprises papers, chiefly in French, relating to the Congrès Mondial de la Documentation Universelle, or World Congress of Universal Documentation [1937]. Series 2 comprises minutes and correspondence of the BSIB and Aslib joint committee [1930-1935], and includes discussion of the advantages of the UDC system. Series 3 comprises committee minutes, lists of members, annual reports and accounts of the BSIB [1927-1932] as well as an account of its work in its first year (1927-1928). Series 4 has been divided into four subsections. 4/1 comprises correspondence relating chiefly to the formation and first year of the BSIB [1927-1930]; 4/2 comprises correspondence with the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association [1930]; 4/3 comprises correspondence with, and byelaws of, the British Engineering Standards Association, a list of government and private institutions who use Decimal Classification, a bibliography of League of Nations publications, and two French pamphlets by the Institut International de Bibliographie [1928-1929]; 4/4 comprises correspondence of the BSIB [1928-1929]. Series 5 comprises committee minutes, annual reports, accounts and correspondence of the BSIB together with a list of British societies and their publications and several circulars advertising new reprographic methods [1935-1937]. Series 6 comprises correspondence with various British societies together with a list of ‘scientific themed societies’ [1929-1930,1935]. Series 7 comprises papers and correspondence in English and French relating to the Union Internationale de la Chimie Pure et Appliquée [1922-1932]. Series 8 comprises an article entitled ‘The problems of international bibliography from the point of view of a specialised bibliography’ by Sigmund von Frauendorfer [1929], a memorandum on international abstracting and classifying of scientific and technical literature [1930], and a bulletin of the Société de Chimie Industrielle [1930]. Series 9 comprises six files of correspondence relating to the BSIB (1930-1932].
Extent
0.28 m [2 boxes]
Language
English, French
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
Science Museum, London
Conditions governing access
Open Access
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied in accordance with current copyright legislation and Science Museum Group terms and conditions
External document
Collection Contents List
Appraisal
No appraisal of this collection has been undertaken.
System of arrangement
The files were grouped in 9 series numbered alpha numerically, according to subject areas. Original numbering sequences, where evident, were maintained in the order of the files. Where no such sequences were evident, the order was decided by the archivist.