FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 143 



2. PROJECT FOR THE CREATION OF A PAN AMERICAN 

 LIBRARY UNION. 



The Chairmen of the Argentine, Brazilian, and Chilean Delegations 

 submit for the approbation of the Congress a project for an inter- American 

 Library Union, destined to complete, in the intellectual field, the work 

 initiated by the present Pan American Union in the political field. 



One of the principal objects of the existing Pan American Union, in fact, 

 consists in tightening the bonds of every character that bind the divers 

 peoples of the American continent, as well in the political, economic, and 

 social spheres as in the intellectual. It therefore becomes essential to 

 complement that organization by the creation of suitable agencies for 

 putting these aims into effect in the most practical manner. With this 

 end in view, the undersigned suggest the following: 



ARTICLE I. That there be created a Pan American Library Union, to 

 be composed of the various public libraries of America, national and uni- 

 versity, and which shall be located and conducted in the home of the 

 Pan American Union at Washington, where the necessary offices shall be 

 organized. 



ARTICLE II. The Pan American Library Union is to have for its object: 

 (a) The establishment of relations among the various libraries of 

 America, to the end that their treasures, manuscripts as well as printed 

 books, may be available to any investigator in any part of the conti- 

 nent; 



(6) The establishment of the bibliography of America in the various 

 branches of learning, in accordance with a uniform plan and the publi- 

 cation annually of a list of all publications issued in the several coun- 

 tries of the continent, with critical notes concerning the contents, 

 respectively, of the most important works; 



(c) The coordination of the systems of library economics and library 

 science in America for the purpose of making uniform, as far as possible 

 the classifications in all libraries and the publication of general or 

 partial catalogues of their sections devoted to Americana; 



(d) The direction of the inter-American service of exchange of pub- 

 lications on the basis at present established by the Pan American 

 Conferences, thus simplifying and perfecting that service and extend- 

 ing it not only to official publications but to those of corporations and 

 of private persons, destined for public, social, or individual establish- 

 ment, in order thereby to make it more effectively consonant with 

 the system employed in the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington; 



(e) The establishment of an auxiliary service that will render to 

 investigators any publication that may make its appearance anywhere 

 in America; 



(f) The direction of the publication of comparative catalogues con- 

 fined to printed or manuscript books of or relating to America in order 

 that students may familiarize themselves with the intellectual labors 

 of the Americas; 



