History
The International Federation for Documentation (FID) was founded in 1895 by Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine as the International Institute of Bibliography and has been known by its present name since 1938. FID obtained a federative status in 1924 with five national members and legal status in 1959 as an international non-governmental organization under the Belgian act granting incorporation to international non-profit associations pursuing a scientific, artistic, or edu- cational object.
Objectives and programme
To promote through international cooperation, studies and research as well as the organization and practice of infor- mation science in all fields, science, technology, the social sciences and the humanities.
By grouping together at an international level, organizations and individuals concerned with the problems of information science, FID provides a world forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences and the opportunity for interested organizations and individuals to coordinate their efforts.
FID is the international professional associaton for the in- formation science community.
The priority areas within the present FID Medium Term Programme are:
⚫ theoretical and linguistic basis of information science
• information processing and technology
• education and training for information specialists and in- formation users
• information system and network design and manage- ment
• information needs and habits of users.
Organization
The governing bodies of the Federation are the General As- sembly, the Council and the Executive Committee. The highest authority is the General Assembly which convenes every two years; sessions are open to National and Inter- national Members who have full plenary rights. Associates, Institutional and Personal Affiliates, and Honorary Fellows may participate in the General Assembly, but have no vote.
The Council includes the President, three Vice-Presidents,
a Turer, twelve Councillors, and ex-officio, the Sec- retary General. The Executive Committee includes the Of- ficers and the Secretary General.
In order to carry out part of its programme FID has appoint- ed Regional Commissions and Committees.
The three commissions are:
• FID/CLA Commission for Latin America FID/CAO Commission for Asia and Oceania
• FID/CAF Commission for Africa
Each of the commissions in turn have their own pro- grammes and committee structure to carry out their activi- ties.
The various committees of the Federation are:
• FID/CCC Central Classification Committee, with its some thirty UDC revision committees (operation and su- pervision of the Universal Decimal Classification; its revi- sion, and further development)
FID/CR Classification Research (to promote, sponsor and engage in research in the field of classification and indexing)
• FID/DT Terminology of Information and Documentation (research into the state-of-the-art, theory, methods and problems of terminology)
• FID/ET Education and Training (to study the state-of- the-art, methods and problems of training in documen- tation and information science)
• FID/II Information for Industry (to establish an interna- tional professional forum for gathering, evaluating and exchanging ideas, methods, and means on how to iden- tify the needs of end-users in industry)
• FID/IM Informetrics (to establish an international forum for evaluating methods and means on the application of mathematics to information science)
• FID/LD Linguistics in Documentation (to research pro- blems of information science from a linguistical viewpoint)
FID/PD Patent Information and Documentation (further- ing the use of patent information)
FID/RI Research on the Theoretical Basis of Information Science (development of the theory of information science and its interaction with other scientific disci- plines).
• FID/SD Social Sciences Documentation (the promotion of all information and documentation services in the so- cial sciences).
At times working groups are established to carry out jects and presently there is the FID/BSO Panel, the Broad System of Ordering.
Membership
There are over seventy national and international members and approximately 300 institutional and personal affiliates from about 90 countries. National membership is limited to one institution in a country; other institutions and individuals are welcome to become affiliates.
All members and affiliates are encouraged to be active in the FID programme and to participate in the work of those committees whose activities are of interest to them.
International relations
Aside from its International members, FID has consultative status with several other international organizations amongst them being Unesco (category A), International Or- ganization for Standardization (ISO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Internatio- nal Council on Archives (ICA), and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and is a scientific affiliate of the International Council of Scientific Unions.
Meetings
A biennial Conference and Congress is held in even years. The Conference is composed of meetings of the Council and the General Assembly as well as Committee meetings; FID/ET with assistance from Unesco organizes a Seminar. The Congress follows the Conference and is made up of professional sessions with invited and contributed papers circling around a key theme.
Operational units
The FID General Secretariat serves as the administrative and organizational headquarters for the Federation inclu- ding a permanent secretariat for the work on the UDC. Aside from this several professional activities are carried out at the Secretariat itself, the joint Unesco/FID ISORID project re- sulting in the publication of R & D Projects in Documentation and Librarianship being one of them.