The International Relations Office, 1956-1972.

ABSTRACT

The second International Relations Office of the American Library Association was established in 1956 with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Its directors advised the association, foundations, United States government, and individual librarians who were involved in programs of technical assistance and other international activities. The office closed in 1972 when its final Agency for International Development (AID) contract was terminated. This article discusses its establishment, its directors, its activities, and its demise.

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The American Library Association (ALA) has had three International Relations Offices: the first existed from 1943 to 1949, the second from 1956 to 1972, and the third was founded in 1986 and is still with us. Each has had a distinctive character: the first was project oriented, primarily involved with book programs for European libraries and library development in Latin America; the second was the planning and advisory body the first had been intended to be; and the current office handles business that directly concerns the association or its members, such as representation in international organizations and exchanges of librarians (Kraske, 1995; Brewster, 1976; International Relations Office, 2005; Michael Dowling, personal communication, September 30, 2005). It is the second office, described in the ALA Archives as the "New" International Relations Office, that is the International Relations Office discussed in this article. It functioned in the period of the Cold War between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the rapid transformation of European colonies into independent states, and the widespread adoption of planning in these newly independent nations to promote economic and social development.

After World War II--in contrast to the isolationism that followed World War I--the United States was engaged internationally in every possible way: politically, militarily, economically, and culturally. The United States was a leader in the United Nations, the principal organizer of NATO, and with the Marshall Plan and Point Four, the originator of extensive programs of foreign aid. In a 1954 Gallup poll survey that asked people to characterize themselves as "isolationist" or "internationalist," 61 percent chose internationalist and only 17 identified themselves percent isolationist (Gallup, 1972). Optimism, self-confidence, and a "can-do" approach, characteristics long associated with Americans, were at an all-time high.

Private organizations and individuals supplemented official efforts. As an organization, the American Library Association had been committed to international participation since its inception; its charter was amended in 1942 to read "to promote library interests throughout the world" (Charter, 1907). (1) At the time the second International Relations Office (IRO) was founded in 1956, the International Relations Board, the section of the association responsible for its international activities, was working on a regular basis with government agencies like the Department of State, with foundations, with other associations, and with foreign libraries. The activities of the board encompassed the exchange of persons, overseas operations, United States government operations, international representation, and administrative functions for the association. The board administered two projects for foreign librarians under contract to the Department of State, a five-month visit to the United States for twelve university librarians from India, and a five-month visit to the United States of twelve public librarians from all parts of the world. It assisted American librarians seeking opportunities to study or positions abroad and foreign librarians who sought positions in the United States. It was deeply involved in two major projects: the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Japan Library School at Keio University and the Ford Foundation-funded library education program at the University of Ankara. Different government agencies regularly called upon the board for advice on library matters, often requesting lists of candidates for particular overseas assignments. The board "maintained a lively and influential interest" in the government's overseas information program and in 1953 arranged for three members of the ALA, including the then chairman of the board, Douglas W. Bryant, to testify before the Senate committee overseeing the program. It worked to represent the association in international organizations in the field of librarianship and bibliography, such as the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and the International Federation for Documentation (FID), in the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and with groups like the Organization of American States (OAS, formerly the Pan-American Union). In addition, it was responsible for such matters as approving the translators, translations, and publication arrangements for foreign publication of ALA publications. (2)

The members of the board were volunteers and all of their work was done on a shoestring budget. Bryant began his summary of the activities of the board by pointing out that it needed adequate funding if it was to support the country's foreign relations. For the previous four years, that is, 1951-55, the board had "subsisted" on $2,500 made available from endowment capital. As he put it:

 
   This sum (together with the administrative portions of grants 
   obtained by the board) has sustained the board for these years 
   only because every cent has been made to count by living as 
   frugally as possible, by leaving undone a number of things which 
   in the best interests of the Association should have been done, 
   and finally by levying altogether too heavily on the time and 
   institutional budget of the Board's chairman and members. The 
   board can never realize its full effectiveness without at least 
   modest administrative assistance. (3) 

By 1955 library leaders were beginning to talk about the need for some kind of central clearing house. (4)

Enter Charles Burton Fahs. Fahs was a Japanese specialist who had been a professor of Oriental affairs at Claremont College in the 1930s. He had spent World War II as an intelligence analyst; in 1955 he was director of the humanities program of the Rockefeller Foundation. Fahs was the son of the librarian of the Missionary Research Library in New York and as a young professor at Claremont had been active in developing the library's Oriental holdings. He…