International Federation for Information and Documentation
organization
The International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) was an international organization that was created to promote universal access to all recorded knowledge through the creation of an international classification system. FID stands for the original French Fédération internationale de documentation.
Historical Background of FID
FID was established on 12 September 1895, in Brussels, as the International Institute of Bibliography (originally Institut International de Bibliographie, or IIB) by two Belgian lawyers, Paul Otlet (1868–1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854–1943). It was popularly known as the Brussels Institute. Its headquarters was changed to The Hague after 1934. It had gone through a number of changes in name that reflect changes of conceptualization of the field in which it operates.
The changes in names and years are :
1931 – The International Institute for Documentation (Institut International de Documentation, IID)
1937 – The International Federation for Documentation (Fédération Internationale de Documentation, FID)
1988 – The International Federation for Information and Documentation (Fédération Internationale d'Information et de Documentation, FID)
The Institute was one of the sponsors of the first World Congress of Universal Documentation, held in Paris in 1937.
FID was dissolved in 2002.
Publications
One of the publications of FID was FID Communications.
Dosa, Marta L. (1980).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “International Federation for Information and Documentation” is organization. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through International, Federation and Information, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “organization” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3349634. VIAF identifies the subject as 169060882. The Library of Congress control number is n84223981. None of the 4 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1868, 1944 and 1854.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “International Federation for Information and Documentation”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow International Federation for Information and Documentation primary sources, International Federation for Information and Documentation archive and International research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “International Federation for Information and Documentation”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “International Federation for Information and Documentation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.