ALA & Iraq documents

ALA Council passes resolution calling for return of Iraqi documents

CHICAGO - At the American Library Association (ALA) 2008 Midwinter Meeting, held last month in Philadelphia, the ALA Council adopted a resolution calling for the return of documents to Iraq's national library and archives.

On Jan. 16, the Council of ALA passed the resolution addressing the confiscation of Iraqi documents from the Iraq National Library and Archives. It calls for the U. S. and British governments to return documents they may have in their possession.

The “Resolution on the Confiscation of Iraqi Documents from the Iraq National Library and Archives” condemns both governments for the confiscation, which occurred after the invasion of 2003. Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archives, has asked for these documents to be returned.

Concern over the ability to repatriate documents that are the patrimony of Iraq was highlighted since ALA passed its resolution, when it was announced that the Hoover Institution at Stanford University had signed an agreement to take possession of around 7 million documents from Saddam Hussein's tenure as Iraqi president. These documents were taken in 2003 by the Iraq Memory Foundation, a private, nonprofit group.

In a letter to United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the association stated, “The documents are the patrimony of Iraq and need to be returned to them.”

The resolution on Iraq can be found at http://www.ala.org/ala/iro/awardsactivities/Resolution_on_the_Confiscation_of_Iraqi_Documents.cfm.

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 65,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.