1950
1950 - UNESCO Conference on the Improvement of Bibliographical Services
The 1950 recommendations became central to the development of national bibliographies by defining that the national bibliography is not solely a list of books but a system of bibliographies that formed the core of the "national bibliographic service".
Key recommendations:
Recommendations derived from the Conference:
- Emphasized that the national bibliography should not be a single listing, but a coherent system of bibliographies that act together to document and register publications in a particular country. (Conference on the Improvement of Bibliographic Services, 1950)
- National bibliographies should include lists of books and pamphlets published and sold in each country together with audiovisual materials
- Only important articles should be registered in periodical indexes
- Directories of institutions and firms selling documents in the country in question should be established
- instructions concerning the publication of printed national bibliographies
In addition, detailed recommendations of what kinds of documents should be registered, the 1950 recommendations include short directions on:
- Potential demands caused by the levels of cataloguing required
- Publishing the national bibliography
- Legal deposit and the national bibliography
- Holdings of the publications at the national library.
Last update: 5 December 2017