Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham, who had studied at Balliol College remarked that "as science and learning knew no national bounds so internationalism was at once the secret and necessity of all advancement in original research and practical discovery.
The Internationalisation of knowledge was INTERNATIONALISM IN EXCELSIS" and went on to speak warmly of the International Labour Organization, who had expanded their range of activities to include fostering greater intellectual co-operation amongst the nations of their parent body, the League of Nations.
[2] ASLIB played a particular role in World War II obtaining journals and other documents from the Axis powers countries.
Many countries around the world lost access to the documentation of academic and scientific information during wartime.
With Eugene Power, microfilming expert, and with funding from some US foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, ASLIB set up a large microfilming service that was able to supply key publications to countries that had no other access to them.