Página:120 años de la Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile.djvu/88

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Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile — 88

whether it originated out of Parliamentary or Presidential initiative. The first issue was published in three volumes, in 1950, with the title “History and lndex to the Laws”

f) Catalogue of print media articles

g) Catalogue of the sentences of the Courts of Justíce, which is still being published by the Editorial Jurídica de Chile as “General Repertory of Chilean Legislation and Jurisprudence”. For years, this work has been one of the most important sources of information for lawyers in the country.

In 1945 —by initiative of Mr. Ugarte— senator Arturo Alessandri Palma, former Chief Librarian, presented a motion to create the Editorial Jurídica de Chile (Jurídical Publisher of Chile). In 1947, President Gabriel González Videla promulgated Law N° 8.737 that created that publishing house, the Directors’ Board of which would include by right of law, the Chief Librarian of the Library of the National Congress.

Mr. Ugarte was invited to the United States, in 1948, by the US Department of State, at the suggestion of Dr.Lewis Hanke, Director of the Hispanic Foundation, who, upon learning of the catalogues that Mr.Ugarte had created, informed Dr. Luther Evans, Librarian of the US Library of Congress. In the United States, Mr. Ugarte contacted the Department of Legislative Reference, providing information on the methodology employed in the Chilean catalogues.

In view of the work and techniques developed in the Library of the National Congress of Chile, Dr.Luther Evans, proposed that Mr. Jorge Ugarte be named member of the Committee of International Experts for the planning of the Library for the United Nations, as sole representative for Latin America. Mr. Ugarte undertook this work in Lake Success, New York. Upon his retirement, Mr. Ugarte later testified in a letter sent to Congress, that similar cards as those created by him were being used in the US Library of Congress, as shown in a publication titled “Legislative Reference Service”, published in Washington, in 1950.

Upon returning to Chile, he took the initial steps to create the Press Clippings Section, which was established in 1950.

Over time, Mr. Ugarte created a department named Press Indexing, which processed and indexed information published in the main newspapers and, later, periodicals, providing access by name and subject to that information. However, his greatest achievement was the creation of the legislative catalogue, in numerical and chronological order, with cards that recorded modifications, annulments, cross-references, and