UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is an inter-governmental specialized agency of the United Nations. UNESCO signed on 16 November 1945, came into force on 4th November 1946 after ratification by 20 countries including India. The UNESCO'S permanent Headquarters is in Paris, France.

Objectives of UNESCO:         

The main objective for UNESCO is to build a knowledge society based on the sharing of knowledge and incorporating all the socio-cultural and ethical dimensions of sustainable development. UNESCO's priorities in the field of Communication and Information include:

• Empowering people through access to Information and knowledge with special emphasis on freedom of expression.

•  Promoting communication development.

• Advancing the use of ICTs for education, science and culture. 

 Membership of UNESCO:

In short, UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its 193 (As of October 2009) Member states and 6 Associate Members in the fields of education, science, culture and communication.

Organization of UNESCO:  

The General Conference consists of the representative of the Member states of the Organization . It meets every two years and is attended by Member States and Associate Members, together with observers for non-Member-States, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations  (NGOs). Each country has one vote, irrespective of its size or the extent of its contribution to the budget. 

The Executive Board, in a sense, assures the overall management of UNESCO. It prepares the work of the General Conference and sees that it's decisions are property carried out. The Secretariat consists of the Director-General and the Staff appointed by him. As of January 2007, the Secretariat employed around 2,100 civil servants from some 170 countries. The staff is divided into Professional and General Service categories. Under a recent decentralisation policy, more than 700 staff members work in UNESCO's 58 field offices around the world.

Functions and Activities of UNESCO:

The aim of UNESCO in the field of communication and Information is to Empower people through the free flow of ideas by word and image and by access to Information and knowledge. The Communication and Information Sector (CI) was established in its present form in 1990.

1. National Information System (NATIS): NATIS is a brain-child of UNESCO. It implies that governments at different levels (national,state and local) should maximize the availability of all relevant information.
2. Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC):  For compilation of bibliographies UNESCO has launched an ambitious project in cooperation with IFLA known as UBC.
3. Seminars, Conference and Workshop: UNESCO has supported library conferences, seminars and meetings. In 1952 an intergovernmental conference convened by UNESCO adopted the Universal Copyright Conversation.  
4. Cooperation:  UNESCO maintains healthy cooperation with IFLA, International Council on Archives (ICA), Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CoDATA) established by International Council of Scientific Union (ICSU) etc.
5. Standardization: The Common Communication Format (CCF) was published by UNESCO in 1988. CCF is a structure format for creating bibliographical record and exchange of records between groups of information agency and libraries.
6. ASTINFO and APINESS:  In 1984 UNESCO established Regional Network for Exchange of information and Experience in Science and Technology in Asia and Pacific (ASTINFO) to promote regional cooperation, better understanding and socio-economic development in Asia and Pacific region. Later in 1986 another network called Asia Pacific Information Network in Social Sciences(APINESS) was established.
7. UNISIST: It is an international project sponsored by UNESCO to foster and coordinate international bibliographical services being provided by various organizations. It is an inter-governmental programme to encourage and guide voluntary cooperation in the exchange of information at national, regional and international levels.
8. Fellowships, Funds and Grants: The UNESCO  Fellowships Programme, through the award and administration of fellowships, study and travel grants provide various opportunities for librarians. 
9. Memory of the World: UNESCO established the Memory of the World Programme in 1992. It provides access to the documentary heritage of the World. The programme was envisioned to protect and preserve documents that are endangered due to natural or man-made disasters.
10. Information Processing Tools: UNESCO develops ,maintains and disseminates, free-of-charge, two interrelated software packages for database management(CDS/ISIS) and data mining/statistical analysis (IDAMS). 

Besides, the UNESCO honoured the Indian librarians by inviting them to advise upon various library projects meant for the member country. India also organized a few conferences and regional seminars of UNESCO. India became a member of UNESCO on 4 November 1946. UNESCO for the first time started the first pilot project in library in India by establishing the Delhi Public Library. The main aim of this project was to provide information on the problem of public library service for the parts of India in particular and for the Asia in general.

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