‘The only thing that you have to know, is the location of the library’, said Albert Einstein.
As one walks through the dimly-lit narrow staircase, one can’t but help feel overwhelmed at not just the location of this renowned library but also the sheer mammoth proportion of what it contains: 1,500,000 physical volumes of rare and precious documents. The reference is of course to the United Nations Library in Geneva, until 1946 known as the Library of the League of Nations (LoN).
Created after the First World War, the LoN was to work towards international cooperation and peaceful resolution of international disputes and had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Walking through the hallowed halls of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Francesco Pisano, director of the library, briefly narrates its history.
Instrument of learning
He says , “In 1927, John D Rockefeller, the famous American philanthropist, generously donated two million US dollars to endow the LoN library with a collection specialised in the study of international relations. The library would serve as a ‘centre of international research’ and an ‘instrument of international understanding’.”
Open to the general public, which is considered unusual for a library of an international organisation, when the LoN ceased to exist, the library, together with all the LoN assets, was transferred to a new international organisation, the United Nations, (whose headquarters is in New York).
The library became the Library of the United Nations at Geneva, with a mission to serve staff, delegates and diplomats at this duty station. It is also open to researchers from all over the globe, and specialises in key international affairs, and UN documents. The library boasts of its oldest book dating back to 1504 AD. “We hold more than 4,000,000 UN documents, in the six official languages. We organise guided library tours for more than 1,000 visitors every year and welcome groups from schools, universities, specialised agencies, international organisations and they always include people of different nationalities. Approximately 40,000 people (UN staff, diplomats, academics) use the library for their research every year,” says Pisano.
Gifts of art
As on e walks through the numerous rooms, attention is drawn to the ceiling with bespoke beautiful chandeliers, and walls holding the artwork that has been gifted over the years to the library. Artist Henrik Sorensen’s masterpiece, The Dream of Peace, was donated by Norway and can be seen in the Library Events room. This magnificent oil-on-canvas is a juxtaposition of scenes of suffering, destruction and death, and yet the artist refuses to lose faith in a better tomorrow.
Pisano says, “There are more than 1,000 artworks in the Palais. Sorensen was an artist and a pacifist, a firm believer in the ideals of the LoN, and his work is a powerful reminder that peace can never be achieved once and for all; it is an ideal we always have to strive for.”
Digitising access
Taske d with handling the Institutional Memory, the UN Library Geneva launched a major five-year project (2017-2022) to digitise the entire League of Nations archives, with the aim of modernising access to institutional memory for researchers, education institutions, and the general public.
Pisano says, “It is called Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives (LONTAD); it will ensure digital and physical preservation and state-of-the-art free online access to around 15 million pages, or almost three linear kilometres of archival documents of the League of Nations! When we are done, the project will result in 250TB of data, over 500,000 units of descriptive metadata, rehousing and conservation of all physical originals according to current standards, and modernised climate control and fire prevention.”
Look up http://www.unog.ch/library for more.
