Building documentation outside the United States

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Building documentation outside the United States

8er THl N21t2 n o . L B e . 2 BtDG

ctsfl / rcrsr

NATIOHAT RESEARCIT

COUSCIT

CAI{ADA

BUTLDING DOCU},IENTATTON

OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES

by

Robert F. Legget

DLrector

A paper prepared for Presentatlon

at- ths Conference on Bulldlng

Docurrnentatlon, sponsored bY the

Butldlng

Resoarch AdvlsorY Boand

and the Amsrlean Instltqte

of

AnchLtects, Washingtonr December

16th and 17th, L953.

TeehlrLeal Paper No' 18

of the

Dl.vlslon of BulLdlng Eesearch

OTTAWA

october 1951+

PBEFACE

Bullding

Doer.mentatLon bas held a promLnent

place Ln the thlnklng

and operatLon of the Di.vl.sion

of Bulldlng Research of the NatlonaL Besearch

Councll slnce lts beginnLng tn 1947.

f t r d a s a p l e a s u r e , t h e r e f o n e r t o b e a s k e d t o

speak on "BuLldtng Docu:nentatLon outsl-de the Ualted

siatesn at the eoifenence on Bu11din8'DoeumentetLon

sponsored by the Butldlng Research Advlsory Boand

and the Amenlcan Instltute

of A:rchltects held ln

Washtngton Last Decernber. llhLs report recor"de the

taLk glven by the w:riter at that tlme; tt provldes

a r e c o r d o f s o m e o f t h e p o l i c l e s

f o l l o w e d l n t h e

devel-opment of the Dtvlslon of Bulldlng Resoarsh"'

Ottawa

Octoben L95h

Robsr.t F. tegget

BUTLDIIqG DOCIN{ENTATION OUTSTDE TI{E TJT{ITED STATES

by Robert F. Legget

Bullding

Dosumentatj.on ls a semanti.c monstrosity

but a

name Which has had to be developed to descrlbe the steadily

mountin6l volume of literature

rel-ating

to building

and buildlng

research and the associated reeord.ingn o:rganizationn and

dis-seminatlon of this lnformatlon,

The fact that this Gonference

has been convened 1s an indisation

of the lmportanee attached to

the matter in Arnerlcan build.lng circles,

The reeord. lrhlch foll"ows

w111 Lndicate ttre eorrespondlng attentlon

rahleh is already belng

d.evoted to the subject ln other countries,

particularly

in Europe.

The wrlter

therefo:re 'orelcornes the opportunity

of particlpating

in

thls forum sinee so much can be gained by an lnterehange of ideas

regardlng Buildlng

Documentatlon, the future development of whLch

ls sti1l

fluld

ancl therefore wor"thy of mueh d.iscusslon"

At the outset, lt seeuts desirable to observe that the

tennr uBullding

Documentatlontr ls used 1n a general roay with regard

to bu11d5-ng ln all 1ts aspects but also ln a much more speeS.flc

nanner in relatlon

to bulldlng

researeh.

Many of the referer:ees

to Builcling Documentation aetually

deal with the documentatlon of

bulldlng

research"

This is lnevltable

since it 1s the buildlng

researeh worker raho Ls chiefly

conseious of the lmportance of

this aspect of hls work.

Contnactors and bullders

in general

quite natr:ra11y are not particularly

interested

in detailed

docu-mentatlon of the work they do,

Archlteets

and engineers may be

expeeted to have rather more lnterest

but the nornral pressure of

their professionaL work prevents all but the langest groups of

these pnofessional men from spendlng any appreeiable time ln

study of llterature

relevant to thelr wolk.

On the other hand, the bulldlng

neseareh rarorker usually

starts hls investlgatlons

in a llbrary

and, if 1:o is wi-ser makes

a thorough seaneh of all avallable

prlnted lnforme.tLon before

embarktng upon any new investigations

of hls owlle ft has beent

therefore,

the remarkable devetopment of buildlng

research ln the

last decade whlch has dlreeted attention

to the lmportance of

Buildlng

Doeumentatlon and correspondlngly

to the vltal

lmportance

of lnternatlonal

collaboration

ln thls fleld

of work.

fhe bufJ.dtng research worker ln tunn must appreclate

that

hls wprk ean only become effectlve

as lt becorfles lfltown in printed

formn Its r.lse ln bul1c1lng practice

can best be p::omoted through

the medtum of publicatlons.

Aecordinglyr

lt is through bulldlng

reeearch rqorkers that the j-nfluence of Buildlng

Documontatlon has

been spreading and may be expected to develop st11I further

as

research vror"kers corne to tako t}.elr fu1l plaee ln the groat team

of activLtles

whieh makes up the buitr-dtng industry

of any one

cou:rtry"

- 2 *

fhese vler+s are an expresslon of the conslclered thinklng

of the writer

but it is belleved that they would be, shared by

most of those coneorned with the subJect Ln the wrLterts

own

conntry to the North"

_{Aceordinglyr- - the views expressed' are}

re-flocted

in the development of Uufidtng research in Canada and

"o""r*pond.ingLy

ln th-e progress helng ryado tn the fleld

of

B;ltdffig

D;;*;ntation

tf:riiugU.out the Dominlon*

Up untll

the end

of the last t*",

Buil-dtng Documentatton in Canada comprised a few

technLcal and trade Journats and the seattered contrlhutlons

of

lndlvtdual

workers tL tfre proceedlngs of professlonal

societies"

"*""fiy

in the United Stat-es.

An fnateatlon

of a. etrange 1n thls

situatlon

was the estabLishment In 19h6 of Central Hortgage and

noustng corporation,

a Grom company coordinatl*g

nrost of the houslng

intereits

oi ttte Federal Governdentl and ln 191+7 of the Dlvlsi-on of

Building Researeh of the National Beseareh Cor:nell"

The Divlslon

serves iis ttre researctr wlng to the Corporation,

both organlzatio?s

h";ilg

aevefopeA tfr*t" rorii and thelr polleles

concujrre*lly.and- ln

cotcert"

Tlire*remarks whLeh fotloi,l,

therefof€e

relate

only to !h-u

work of the Dlvisfon

of Bulldlng Research" $.ft'C*r but may be-taken

as a refloctlon

of the corresponatng thlnklng

in the Corporation*

From the outset of the work of the Dlviston,

it rsas reallzed

that a llbrary

had to be one of lts central

groups"

A 11brarlan was'

one of the eai.liest

appolntments to the staff'

Correspondlngly;

some of the earlj.est

blannfng related

to the development of a progralil

of publieation

slnce it was realized. that orre of the ntaln funetlons

of the Dlvlslon

wouLd be to make heolsn Ln Canada the results

of building

research r,rork and good. buildlng

practlce

a}ready deveJ.oped elsewhsr€o

ftre Dlviston Ls nors in lts seventh Year of operatlon.

It

recently

o**opi.a

"

**t butldlng

created fbr 1ts use l.n the elty--of

bit***."

*" ceirtral and speclal feature of this bulldlng

is the ltbrary

whlch has been deslgnea to serve not only the Dlvtslon

but the entl"re

constructlon

S"ndustry of Canad,a. Correspondlngly-r

the Publlcatlons

Seetlon of the Divlslon

is well establiirree

ana-naA already.dtstributed

;;ii-;;*"-ilorBoo-puurrcatlons

whictr are -regur*fly

reported through

irtu pag"" dg-6B"ti6f"g

Researeh ln Canadail. Thls ls a progress report

which wtll

eveniuafly*be

published at quarterly

intervals

aad ln irhieh

are alroa6y featured"abstraets

of eurrent Canadian papers Ln the bulld*

tng fleldo

Thls nernr develoPment ln Canai

remarkable assletanco :recelved fron,

ln the Unlted States and ln EuroPe"

Buneau of $tandards r Building

Technc

BulldLng Researeh Statlonr

the pione

of thls asslstanee came tirrough- close personal eontacts and visS-ts"

io*"ii"try

the detailed

teehnical

assistance

carle throug!

the medLum

of nrinte& reeords of wonk done. Even before the recognltlon

of-ttre

;*t;- ileuilalng

Docurnentatlontr, tt was being recogttized. and Bsed ln

-3-gutstand1ng amongst the publlcations

whieh asslsted the

start of Canadian bullalng

reselrch and rnust have assisted buildlng,

researctr ln other eountrj"es ar6

ttBulldlng Sclence Abstraetstto

ft="y

"""utit,rt*

one of the most remarkably -complete records

avall-able for research worker"s ln any of the maJor flelds

of applled or

englneering

research.

For over- a quarter of a centirry they have

pnovlded tiie worker ln the fleld

of bull-dJ.ng research. wlth eonelee

-srxmnaries,

not onLy of lmportant papers publlshed ln Great Brltalnt

but also af a seleltlon

o? the moit- lmportant papens in this fteld

publlshed throughout the world'

The abstracts were startod as a service to the young staff

of the Britl-sh BuiLoing Researeh Statlon by its llbraryr

as early

as 119?6* This was onI-y flve years after the $tatlon ltself

was

forrned and shows cleariy

the lmportanee wlth wtrich records of bullding

rosearch have been viewbd by thls p3-oneer bullding

researeh

organ-izatLon.

For two years they appeared in mlmeographed form"

-Th*y-proved so acceptabie and tr"br,.i" that, startlng--in

January 1928, they

were lssued" monthly, in prlnted

fortn*

ft is of speeial l-nterest to note that for the first

three

abstracts were supported flnancially

ie of Bullders '

Foll-orsing this

rstracts hAve been publlshed directly

.leved that they are now flnanclally

tlme of the librarY

staff

sPont tn

.ch ts regarded as a normal- funetlon

o f t h e B u i l d t n g R e s e a r c h S t a t l o n "

??re abstraets

are now ln thelr

twenty-sixth

volumee Each

monthly lssue ineludes thlrty-trro

pases.although

during the r'rar years

t h e s i z e h a d n e c e s s a r i l y t o 6 e r e A u c e a t o s i x t e e n p a g e s o B e c a u s e o f

thls and the other d.emai:.ds

of wartl-mey the abstracts

dld get scnre€?rat

behind ln their coverage of bullding

research llterature"

Wlth specl-41

effort,

howevere the backlog has now been made up and the abstraets

tod.ay gtv* an ai*out up-to-date

eoverage of llterature

ln tbe fleLd

oq U;fIAing

research,

-

Indenes are avail-able for all volumes up to

ighg"

ft is antlclpated

that these essentlal

supplements to the

voi1:mes of abstraet-s w111 themselves be up-to-date

in the near future"

The abstracts vary conslderably ln length put avers.ge ab99t.

one hundred and twenty r,rbrd.s" They are prepared by 3 glaff

sEtlled

in this speelal type bf documentation,

primarily

qltkr thre needs of

the research staf?- of the British

Building Researetr StatLon l-n vier*"

Although this has some slight

effect

ln Limiting

thelr general

YP"-fulness" thls llmltation

is almost negligtble

when compared to the

great value of the abstra.cts to all r,rho are concerned r"rith any aspect

of buildlng

researeh ln any country"

-4-The covers.ge gLven by the abstraets

ls quite rernarkable'

About slx hund,red Journals from thlrty

eountriese

together wlth

books and other non-periodleal

publlcatlonsr

are reguLarly revlewed

for the purpose of preparLng abstractso

T[re needs of buildlng

re-seareh are lnterpreted

broadly so that meny of the abstraets

have

an tnterest

far beyond the llmlted

flel.d of bullding

researeh

it-selfe being of value and lnterest

parttcularly

to professlonel

engineers and arehitects

who are concerned r+lth bulldlng

problemso

Buildlng

Scj.ence f bstracts are publlshed by He:r' i{aJostyts $tatLonery

Offiee aRd are avallable

for purcl:rase through a:ry of the H.H.$"Oo

outlets,

Tlrey are warmJ.y cornmended to aL1 parttcipants

in thls

Conferenee as the best possl-ble foundatlon

for a.hutldJ.ng research

library*

fhls spec5.al attention

ls belng glven to Bullding Sclence

Abstracts

ln vlew af the trnlque place they occupy in the fleld

of

Building

Documentatl-on.

Ihey have set a pattern

and a hlgh ste.ndard

r,rhi.ch will

be always fruitful-.

The Bulldlng

Research Statlon has

naturally

a long llst

of important publleatlons

to lts credl"t as

have all-j-ed researeh organS-zatlons such as the Road Research

Labora-toryn

Special mention, hol.revero must be made of two other organizatLonso

ftre- Royal Instltute

of Brltlsh

Archlteets

have long malntained a notable

llbrary

and have for many year$ published a regular llst

of addltlons

to thelr library

for g4eneral use.

Tn the closlng ]rears of the ware

the llbrary

of the Brltlsh

Fltnistry

of trriorks was completely reorganlzed

on modern llnes to meet the new demands upon thls long-established

organlzatlono

ft now publlshes accesslon lists

and ln a variety

of

ways has asslsted. greatl-y tn the dtssemination of lnformatlon

regardlng

all aspects of bulldLng tbroughout Great Brltalnc

Sl-mlIar statements could be made regardlng slmllar

organlzatlons

tn other Eu:ropean cor:ntrles.

$pecLal mentlon, however, must be made

of the close attentlon

gi.ven to Buildlng Docurnentation wlthln recent

years by the Scandj.navian eountries

followlng

the L9L+7

meeting noted

belown

-

Denmarke Fi-nland, Noruray and $deden co-operate in many things

and ln nothlng rrrore closely

than 1n buildlng

research and Buildlng

Documentatlon*

Each cotmtry nor..r

has a build.ing rosearch organizatl-on1

representatives

of which meet together reg'ularly,

They issue abstracts

of building

reseanch papers periodically.

T'lrese are dlstrlbuted,

jointly

thiough a reniari<able publlcation

ealled t?Bygglitteraturtto

ttris pubLleation

ls avallable

ln all the four countries

and lncl-udes

the bulldlng

abstracts prepared ln each of the four countrtes"

Ttrese

abstracts,

and those from some other European cor:ntrlesl

d.lffer from

Bulldlng $elence Abstraets ln that they are designed to serve the

build.l-ng destgner: rather

than the researeh r.iorkelr*

In vi-ew of this example of lnternatj.onal

cooperati"on on a

llmited. scale, lt ls not surprislng

that ButldJ.ng Documentation has

reeelved attention

ln the internationaL

sphere on a much wlder scalep

partlcularly

ttrrough the operations

of agencies of the Eeonomie

tJ

2

-Commisslon for Europe (ECE) of United. Natlons. This movement may

be traced back to tlre studies of documentatlon whlch were held ln

parLs in 191+? ln connection r^rith the fnternational Reeonstructton

and Torrrr Planning Exhlbition. Tho need for a permanent

lnternatlonal-secretarlat f,or liuildlng Documentation ln the btca'C sense became

apparent during the general votLnp; on the resolutions wi-th whlch

tir^ese meetlngs--conc1uded,. As a flrst step the Belgian INALA

O r g a n i z a t l - o n w a s m a d o r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h l s f i r s t s e c r e t a n i a t . f n

Fefiruary 19[B INALA eonvened a Conferenee on the subjeet whlch uas

attendeb by a smalI nunber of deletjates frora dlfferent European

c o u n t n l e s . A t t h i s C o n f e r e n c e 1 t w a s d e c i d e d t h a t t h e B u r e a u

Doeumentatle Bouroruezen (Bullding Documentation Bureau) at the i{aguo

would take over from INALA the iecretarial dutles" In the rneantlme

ttre Houslng; Subcor,rmittee of the Economlc Conrnlssion for Europe h*9.

called upon the participating goverrunents to set up Natlonal Building

Documentatlon Contres or Committees wtrich could fornr a basis for

lnternational cooperatlon'

At lts second session ln July 19[8, the ECE Houslng Subcorffini-ttee

appolnted. an advlsory group of exports from five governments to examine

tir-e whole posltlon ol iiulf-dmg Documentatlon _{ln Europe. _ At. -f !" thlrd}

sesslon 1n February 191+9 lt studied the report presented by this

ad"visory group and- requested. the ECE $ecretarl-at to convene a Conference

on Builhiiig D-ocunentation in October 1949. fhls neetlng was held ln

Geneva and was probably the flrst occaslon on which Bulldlng

Documen-tatlon had been- considlred internationally in an official mannero The

C o n f e r e n c e d i d n o t c o n s j - d e r i t e l t h e r p o s s l b l e o r n e c e s s a r y t o e s t a b l i s h

an InternatLonal Bu1lc1lng Documentatlon Centre" _{ft proposed !t?t}

e*"h*t.ge of doeumented lnforrnation should take place directly_between

watlonil Buildlng Documentatlon Commlttees or between speclalized

national eentresf fn ord.er to facllitate sueh an exchange it proposed

that an Internatlonal Buildlng Docunentation Counell should be set up

and this was made an offleial reeommendatlon" The Conference consldered

that abstracts should be the prlncipal means of exchanglng sclentlflc

and tochnical lnformatlon on building between partieipatlng countri-eso

The Eeonomle Conunisslon for Europe accordlngly took the nocessary

steps to set up an Internatlonal Corurcll for Bulldlng Documentationo

Thls Coti:rell had lts flrst General Assembly ln Paris ln $eptember 1950.

It l*as a notablo gatherlng and received official recognition from_ the

Goverrrment of France" fhe aim of the Jnternatlonal Courtcll was stated

as belng ttto develop, throughout the wor1d, documeltation and lnformatlon

tn the iiefA of butldin€5, and to encourage, to facilltate and to

co-ordtnate the exehamge oi documentatlon and information amon€; lhu various

-5*

The reeord of the Proceedinp,s of thle Assembly makes lnteresting

readln55. l-Iany aspects of <locurnentatlon nork were usefully review€d

and. it was aelfae-a that the Unlversal Declrnal Classificatlon should

be used l-nternatlonally for all indexlng ptlrposesr- It r,ras hoped tlat

representatlon on the bour:ci1 wouleL be r..ridespread_but it was agreed

th-at governments which he.d not yet set up Natlonal Conrmittees eouLd'

be represented. by delep;ates '*nt11 such tlrne as the second General

AssemL1y was conirened,-- ft was decicled that the Internatlonal CouncLl

s h o u l 6 m e e t a t l e a s t o n e e e v e r y t h r e e y e a r s * T h e s e c r e t a r i a t f o F t h e

Councll was establlshed tn France under' Ilonsieur A. l'iarlni of the

Centre Scientlflque et Technique clu gftimentn

Very shortly after thls lmportant Parls meetlng the Econgr-nic

Cornmissi-on for Europe held a Conference on Bullding Research. fhls

1ed to the settlng; up by the Houslng Subcommittee of a smal1 expert

study Sroup Inrown as ttre-nuttdlng Research Organlzing Committee.

T h i s " C d r a a i t t e e m e t t L r r e e t i m e s , i n B r u s s e l s , l n L o n d o n , a n d 1 n P a r i s "

It eventually reported on the scope and nature of lnternatlonal

co-tperation in- buiiding researeh. -This _{report; _drew attention} to the

e s s e n t i a l l t n k s b e t w e e n r e s e a r c h , s t u d i e s a n d d o c u m e n t a t l o n a n d

reeomgencled that a single organization was deslrable r*ith three sectlonsl

each enjoying conslderaUte autonomy, but with a clear-cut link between

them"

Pr.eparations had raeanwhile been made for a further General

Assembi-y o? the lnternational Cor.mcLl for Building Documentatlon but

this deireloped into a meetln65, the main purpose of whlch r+as to

d j - s s o l v e t h e C o u n c i l s u b j e c t t o l t s f r : n c t l o n s b e l n 6 5 a s s u m e d b y t h e . .

ner.,r body, the ttt-}e of wbich is ttflre Interrea.tional Cor:nci1 for Bullding

ResearcL, Stuaies and. ilocumentationrro

This new Cor:neil was formally established by a flrst General

Assembly held ln Geneva in July L953. , The Cor;ncil has been

constititted as a cornpletely inilepend.ent body but it naturally has

elose 1lnks with ttre Econorale Commission

United Nations"

Tlle Economlc Conmrissi-on

rneetir:gs of the Corrnel-I Executlve"

Thts

body for the operatlons of the Counciln

Membershlp is of three kindso Full members are natlonal

building research or doctlnentatLon organlzations wlth p;eneral

l - n t e r e s t s p r o v l d e d t h a t t h e y a r e s t r l e t l y n o n - p r o f L t b o d l e s .

Associate irembershlp ls open to national non-proflt

organlzations-servlng a speciflc ?teta - ln the broad sphere of buildlng _{_resea{gh.}

and do[umeniation. Indlvidual nremberstrips are avallabLe for indlviduals

who may be lnterested ln keeplng tn close touch wlth the work of' the

C o u n c l 1 "

The Council has been set up and is operatlng as three separ_ate

sectlons" That deallng with research is headed by Dr. I?.I'{. Lear the

for Europe and so wlth the

may send observers to the

Executive is the guiding

7

D i r e c t o r o f t h e B r . i t i s h B u i l d l n g R e s e a r c h S t a t i o n o T h a t d e a l i n g w i t h s t u d i e s l s h e a d e d . b y Monsieur Ao Ftarinl, the Director o f t h e C e n t r e S c i e n t l f i q u e e t T e c h n i q u e d u B a t l m e n t o f P a r l s . T h e s e c t i o n o n d o c u m e n t a t i o n i s h e a d e d b y Dr" Jo van Ettlnger, t h e E x e e u t l v e Director of Bour,lcentrum in Holland"

I t i s p l a n n e d t h a t t h e C o u n c i l i t s e l f s h a l l c o n v e n e a g e n e n a l m e e t l n g o n c e e v e r y t h r e e y e a r s " T h e t h r e e s e c t i - o n s , h o w e v e r , m a y h o l d s e c t i o n a l m e e t l n g s i n b e t w e e n t h e s e g e n e r a l m e e t i n g s n N a t u r a l l y ,

l n v i e w o f t h e w i d e f l e I d w h l c h t h e C o u n c i l h a s t o c o v e r o i t r , r l L l take some time before it becomes a smoothly operati.ng organi-zati.on b u t i t i s a p r i v l l e g e t o b e a b l e t o r e p o r t t o y o u t h a t i t h a s a c t u a 1 1 v b e e n s e t u p a n d h a s s t a n t e d i - t s worko f t w o u l d n o t b e a p p r o p r i a t e f o r t h e w r l t e r t o s a y t o o m u c h a b o u t t h e p l a n s . a n d f u t u r e a c t i v l t l e s o f t h e C o u n c l l , b u t l t m a y b e m e n t l o n e d . t h a t consideratlon i s b e l n g g i v e n t o t h e p u b l i - c a t i o n o f a m o n t h l y b u l l e t i n o f s o m e s o r t o E m p h a s l s l s b e l n g p l a e e d u p o n t h e i - s s u i - n g o f b u i l d l n g a b s t r a c t s i n a c a r d f o r : m b u t t h i s d o e s n o t n e e e s s a r i l y m e a n t h a t e x i . s t i n g a b s t r a e t s ( s u c h as Buildlng S c l e n e e A b s t r a c t s ) w i l l b e c h a n g o d t o m e e t t h l s n e w m e t h r o d . o f p u b l i e a t l o n . . I t a p p e a r " s t o b e g e n e r a l l y a g r e e d t h a t t h e U n l v e r s a l D e c i m a l C l a s s -i f l c a t l o n w 1 1 1 b e u s e d o f f i c l a l l - y b y t h e c o u n c l l a n d . b y a l l i t s c o n s t l t u e n t b o d l e s " I t w i l l h a v e b e e n n o t i c e d t h a t t h e s e v e n a l i n t e r n a t l o n a l b o d . i - e s w h i c h h a v e b e e n m e n t l o n e d a n e s t l 1 1 , a t p r e s e n t r € s s e n t l a l l y E u r o p e a n l n s c o p e o T o t h o s e o f u s i n N o r t h A m e r l e a , h a v i n g t h e g o o d f o r t u n e t o e n j o y i n t e r n a t i - o n a l c o o p e r a t l o n b e t w e e n o u r s e l v e s s o n e a d i l y t h a t w e r a r e l y s t o p t o t b i n k a b o u t l t , t h e n e c e s s i t y f o r s u e h a f o r m a l means of interna';imal

"ooperation ln this field of Bulldlng Documen-t a Documen-t l o n m a y s e e m s t r a n g e . A L l r o r o u l d ad-mlt that sueh eooperation ls b e s t o b t a l n e d b y direct p e r s o n a S . c o n t a c t s b u t w h e n s o m a n y countrLes a r e i n v o l v e d a s i s t h e c a s e i - n E u r o p e , s o m e t y p e o f o r g a n i z a t l o n l s e s s e n t i a l i f o n l y b e c a u s e o f c o n s t a n t l y c h a n g l n g p e r s o n n e l , T h e n e w International Councll ls a body which therefone appears io have a u s e f u l a n d d e f i n l t e r o l e t o p 1 a y , c e r t a i n l y l n E u r o p e , W t r e t h e r t t c a n b n o a d e n i t s f r r n c t i o n s i n a n y u s e f u l w a y t o i n c l u d e o t h e r c o [ - , t l n e n t s l n c l u d i n g N o r t h A m e r i c a , t i m e a l o n e w i l l t e l l , C e n t a l n l y i t s d - e v e l o p r n e n t w i l l b e f o l l o w e d w i t h c l o s e a n d s ; r m p a t h e t l c l n t e r e s t b y t h o s e l n C a n a d a who are concerned wlth lts sphere of operationo T h e f a c t t h a t t h i s C o n f e n e n c e has been convened ln Washington would

s e e m w a r r a n t f o r a s s u m l n g t h a t there will b e s i m i l a r e o n s i d e n a t e u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f l t s d e v e l o p m e n t l n t h e U n l t e d S t a t e s o

Possibly the most lmportant aspeet of the Internafional'lounci-l i s t h e f a c t t h a t l t h a s been set up at aIle particularly s l n c e l t f o l l o w s t h e e a n l i e r e f f o n t s w h i c h h a v e b e e n d e s c r i b e d . T h i s s u r e l y i n d i e a t e s t h a t t h e j - n t e r e s t i n B u i l d i n g D o c u m e n t a t i o n e x p r e s s e d . b y -t h i s C o n f e r e n c e l s s h a r e d b y w o r k e r s i n t h e same flelds i n E u r o p e a n c o u n t r i e s . B u i l d . i n g D o c u m e n t a t l o n i s s o e s s e n t i a l a t o o l t o t h e advancement of bullding research and therefore to the improvement o f b u i l d i n g p r a c t i c e i n g e n e r a l t h a t i t l s g o o d t o t h l n k

B

-that lt is thus io be dlscussed at this Conference and -that lt hes

been possible to present to the Conferenee thl-s abbrevlated plcture

of what is happeni.ng 1n ti:is important field

in eor:ntrLes outside

Amerlcan bor.rndarie s c

Acla:owIed$rementS

As can be imaginedo the presentatlon

of even this brlef revlew

of Bullding

Documentati-on l-n coru:ltries other than the Untted States

of America has been possS.ble only because of the very elose personal

links vrhLch the Divtsion

of Building Research is privlleged

to have

rilth the organizations

and individuals

lrho have been mentLoned. To

a l l these overseas assoclates, the writer ls grateful for continued,

encouragement and response to all requests for inforruatlon"

l,qllth

partlcular

ref erence to the contents of thi-s paperr spe,cfal_

qclcrow-ledgement must be mad.e to Dr, FoFio Leas Dl-rector of the Buildlng

Research Statlon in Great Britaln

and. l-{r, Bo Agard Evansr Librarlan

of the British

i'{lnistry

of }Ionks,

Visits

to the Divlslon

of Buildlng

Research in Ottaua by Drro Becher of Denraark and Mr' tf-ndqvist of

Sureclen

have provldecl further

valued links which an"e also reflected

ln this paper.

'

The Divislon

of Bulldlng Researehe I{oRoC"e has been fortunate

Ln the way in whlch its or,nr Il-brary and. docurnentatlon serviees have

b e e n d e v e l o p e d f r o m a l r n o s t t h e s t a r t o f i t s o p e r a t i o n s "

} l i s s R o J .

Brodie was tfre first

llbrarian

to the Divlsion r*hieh she represented

at the flrst

Genenal Assembly of the Internatlonal

Council for

Bullding

Documentatlon*

The riork which she founded so well l-s now

belng developed stll1

fr.rther by lvliss Eileen Carson who has assisted

greatLy ln the preparation

of this paper and whose presence at the

Conferense ls a further

lndlcatton

of the lnterest

of the DLvlslon

in Bulldlng Docr-u"aentation

and of lts desire to assist ln every posslble

way ln lts developmento