Abstract:
In 1947 IFLA signed a cooperation agreement with the newly created UNESCO. This article reviews the
evolution of the relationship between IFLA and UNESCO since 1947, and evaluates what this relationship
has contributed to the international library and information community. The review falls into three periods:
(1) from 1947 to 1977, when IFLA worked closely with UNESCO’s Libraries Division (later the
Department of Documentation, Libraries and Archives); (2) from 1977, when the General Information
Programme was founded, to 2000, when this Programme was merged with the Intergovernmental
Informatics Programme (IIP); and (3) from 2001 to the present time, with particular reference to the
UNESCO Information for All Programme (IFAP). As UNESCO gradually shifted its attention away from
libraries to documentation and later information society issues, UNESCO’s importance to IFLA as a source
of support declined, but possibilities remain for fruitful, mutually beneficial relationships between them.
