UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre

Created in 1946, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation which maintains formal relations with UNESCO. ICOM is devoted to the development of the museum profession at an international level. Membership fees are its chief source of funding, but it also receives support from various governmental, public and private organisations. Its members are museums and museum professionals.

The UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre is administered by ICOM and the Direction des musées de France in 1995 and temporary exhibition catalogues which are stored at the library of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, quai Malaquais, in Paris since 1991. These institutions manage these collections thanks to a convention between ICOM and these libraries.

The database of the Documentation Centre of the Direction des musées de France - MUSÉES - includes the references of books and periodicals which used to be at ICOM headquarters. It is available for online consultation on the website of the French Ministry of Culture: http.//www.culture.gouv.fr (click on Databases/Documentation, select database Musées)

Data base

The bibliographic data base of the UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre operates under WINISIS software. It is an in-house data base and presently it cannot be consulted on the Web. It is included in the CD-ROM produced by UNESCO under the title UNESCO Databases.

The database presently contains more than 44 000 records. Those arising from the conversion of the manual catalogue need a revision and correction to comply with the cataloguing standards.

Information services

The UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre primarily serves ICOM members and the personnel of UNESCO. The major role of the centre is to provide information about the publications and activities (meetings of ICOM committees) of ICOM.

The centre's services include: bibliographies, bibliographic searches, reference services, photocopying of articles from ICOM publications, orientation towards other information sources if necessary.

Because of the reduced number of staff assigned to the centre (only one person), information services by correspondence (letters, email, fax) and telephone are limited to ICOM members and UNESCO staff. They also have priority for on-the-spot access.

For on site consultation, the centre is open by appointment to the public from Monday to Thursday, from 2.00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

ICOM Website http://icom.museum/

The centre contributes to the information posted on ICOM website.
For instance, the centre has compiled:
- The calendar of meetings of ICOM committees
- List of national, regional, and international museums associations
- List of museum directories (printed directories and online directories)
- Bibliographies compiled on the theme of the International Museum Day
- Bibliographies on "Museums and Globalisation", "Museum Autonomy", "Tax Incentives", "Deaccessioning"
- Development of the museum definition according to ICOM statutes (1946-2001)
- How to find information on museum statistics
- ICOM guidelines and standards for museums

In spite of its weak human resources, the centre intends to expand in the future this information in order to better serve the general public interested in museum matters.

ICOM News, quarterly bulletin of ICOM

ICOM publishes a newsletter which is sent to all ICOM members, to UNESCO Documentation centres, UNESCO National Commissions, Permanent Delegations to UNESCO, and to national libraries.
The centre is in charge of the book reviews published in ICOM News. Such book reviews give an overview of the publications produced by ICOM and its committees.
The calendar of meetings is also published in the bulletin.

UNESCO-ICOM Information Centre
Maison de l'UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis
F-75732 Paris cedex 15, France.
Tel. +33 (0)1 47 34 05 00. Fax +33 (0)1 43 06 78 6.
Email <jani@icom.museum>
Open: Monday to Thursday from 2 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. by prior arrangement.