AN INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY IN GERMANY
| Pages | 99-106 |
| Date | 01 March 1947 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026112 |
| Published date | 01 March 1947 |
| Author | KENNETH GARSIDE |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
AN INTELLIGENCE LIBRARY IN GERMANY
by KENNETH GARSIDE, M.A.
Deputy
Librarian,
University
College,
London
THE
Intelligence Library of the Control Commission for Germany contains
some 20,000 books and pamphlets, and its function is to provide an informa-
tion service on German affairs for the benefit of the various divisions and
branches of the main headquarters of the Control Commission in Germany.
It is true that few special libraries are ever likely to be formed in similar
circumstances, but some account of the ways in which these unique condi-
tions were met may serve to illustrate the fundamental principle that the
organization of a special library must be freely adaptable to the particular
circumstances governing its existence.
Origin and development
The idea of forming the Intelligence Library was first conceived by the
General Staff of 21 Army Group some months before the actual invasion of
Germany took
place.
It was realized that up-to-date German reference works
were essential to those branches of the Army staff which would be responsible
for military government in Germany during the initial period before the
establishment on German soil of the various agencies of the Control Com-
mission
itself.
Owing to the war there was naturally a dearth of such material
in this country, and the Intelligence Library was therefore established for the
express purpose of assembling current works of reference as they were un-
covered in the offices of the German Army and of
the
Nazi Party organizations
captured by the Allied troops as they advanced into the heart of the Reich.
The value of a library of this kind was quickly appreciated by Supreme
Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, and a scheme was worked out for
the establishment of similar libraries both there and at the higher headquarters
of the American Army in Germany. A simplified technical procedure was
evolved at
21
Army Group for the administration of the Intelligence Library,
and this procedure was adopted as standard for all the libraries in this group.
The use of a uniform procedure made possible a wide degree of inter-library
co-operation, which included an inter-lending service and the compilation
of union catalogues. At a later date the British headquarters in Austria also
joined in the scheme.
A start was made in Brussels during the winter months of
1944-5,
when
the nucleus of the 21 Army Group Intelligence Library was formed from
documentary material uncovered in the offices of the German occupation
authorities in the Low Countries; but the stock remained quite small until
the library was established in Bad Oeynhausen, the quiet Westphalian spa
which became the permanent headquarters of the British Army of the
Rhine. Since the primary concern of the Army in Germany was the imple-
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