TheCOLUMBUS MEMORIAL LIBRARY

at THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

A CORNERSTONE OF THE INTER-AMERICAN

SYSTEM

By Beverly Wharton-Lake Acting Director

of the Columbus Memorial Library

Columbus Memorial Columbus Memorial LibraryLibrary

PurposeResponsibilities

CollectionsHistoryFuture

Patrons of the Columbus Memorial Library

include...OAS Secretariat

Permanent MissionsPermanent Observer Missions

Researchers from the General Public World Wide

Embassies

The OAS and the Inter-American

System

Documenting the History, Preserving the Archives

Traditional Library

Documents Program

Archives

Records Management

Depository Libraries

OAS Documents sent

to 133 libraries in

this hemisphere and

world wide

Publications Program Indexes

Bibliographies

Former Responsibilities of Columbus Memorial

Library

Official Historical Research

Library and Archives Development Program throughout Hemisphere

Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials

(SALALM)

Ambassador Carlos Martinez Silva from Colombia

“…the memorial to be erected ought to be something at once useful and made up of elements, to which each government might contribute independently, (and) it occurred to me that the only plan which would satisfy all these requirements was the establishment in Washington of a memorial Library, to which each government could send, on its own account, the most complete collection possible of historical, literary and geographical works, laws, official reports, maps, etc., so that the results of intellectual and scientific labor in all America might be collected together under a single roof… That would be a monument more lasting and noble than any in bronze or marble.”

Columbus Memorial Library Reading Room,

1910

Pan American Union

50th Anniversary of Name Change to OAS

1948-1998

Alliance for Progress

The General Collection

Latin America

Caribbean

Spain

France

Portugal

North America

LAW

POLITICAL SCIENCE

ART & MUSIC

TECHNOLOGY

ECONOMICS

DEVELOPMENT

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY

EDUCATION

WOMEN’S ISSUES

HUMAN RIGHTS

DEMOCRACY

DRUG TRAFFICKING

OAS Documents Collection

Documents of the Inter-American Specialized

Organizations Collection

&

The Archives

Official Gazette Collection

United Nations Collection

League of Nations Collection

and

Rare Book Collection

Maps and Atlas Collection

Photograph Collection

Leo Stanton Rowe Manuscript CollectionPersonal and

official papers of

Dr. Leo S. Rowe

Director of the

Pan American Union

1920-1946

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Increase in Reference

Requests in CML

Connect online to the

Columbus Memorial Library

http://www.oas.org/columbus

1889 - 2002

Celebrating the

Columbus Memorial Library’s 113th Anniversary

Future ChallengesAutomation

Preservation

Columbus Memorial Library

Corner-stone of the

Inter-American System