Paul Otlet: a life dedicated to documentation

Abstract

The scientific and technological progress as well as the deep social changes experienced between the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century were an ideal environment for the growth and development of the visionary ideas of Paul Otlet, the pioneer of modern documentation.
His eclectic personality was influenced by a few decisive events occurred during his life: the shift from the strict Jesuit education to Positivism, and from law to bibliography studies, up to his commitment for the promotion of peace and culture – commitment that materialized in projects such as the League of Nations and the Mundaneum. All these events are essential to recall his work as well as to understand his thought.
His main ambition was the foundation of a new science aimed at investigating the book – or document – that Otlet highly estimated because of its being the result of scientific research as well as a vehicle of dissemination, a knowledge and information medium in any field and discipline. In Otlet's opinion, the ultimate aim of documentation science was the Universal Bibliographic Repertory. This objective was put into effect by the creation of the Universal Decimal Classification, and by the publication – in 1934 – of what is considered his philosophical testament: Le Traité de Documentation. Le livre sur le livre. Théorie et pratique.
This paper outlines the figure of the Belgian biographer by pointing out the essential traits of his thought, and focusing on the unprecedented impact he had in the creation of a universal “free access to information and knowledge". So far, his work hasn't lost its value, and can still be of some help to  contemporary documentation, librarianship and information science, who are now facing new and ever complex challenges.