Focusing the talents of Bahá'í archivists, librarians, conservators, and information professionals on the needs of the Bahá'í community and the human race.

"...this institution... will, as its component parts, such as... the Archives [and] the Library... are brought together and made jointly to operate in one spot, be increasingly regarded as the focus of all Bahá'í administrative activity, and symbolize, in a befitting manner, the ideal of service animating the Bahá'í community in its relation alike to the Faith and to mankind in general."  (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 339)

INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES: the institution charged with responsibility for the preservation of the Sacred Texts and Relics and the historic documents of the Cause of God.

INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY: ...the central depository of all literature published on the Faith, ... an essential source of information for the institutions of the World Centre on all subjects ... In future decades ... it will serve as an active center for knowledge in all fields, and it will become the kernel of great institutions of scientific investigation and discovery.