| 1965 | Creation of the ISIS system (Integrated Set of Information Systems) on an IBM mainframe computer by a team of information specialists at the ILO. Entry of the first bibliographic records into Labordoc, by means of punched cards and punched tape. The database is called the "BIBLIO file". |
| 1971 | The first detailed technical manual on ISIS is produced. It explains the new concepts of computerized information retrieval. |
| 1967-1972 | Catalogue cards are produced from the computerized database. Copies of the cards are reproduced to create a monthly information bulletin. ILO departments and a number of external libraries wanting to use the database receive monthly packets of cards. |
| October 1972 | The "BIBLIO file" reaches 50,000 records. The first ILO Thesaurus is issued. The first computer terminal is installed in the Reading Room in the ILO's lakeside building. |
| 1975 | Move to the new building. Two computer terminals are installed in the Reading Room for database searching. Because of the slow performance of the computers, printouts of the database are placed on tables in the Reading Room. |
| May 1978 | The "BIBLIO file" is renamed Labordoc. It is made available for on-line searching for the first time by a commercial server, System Development Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, USA. |
| 1978-1985 | The microfiche era. Because searching online is still slow, microfiche catalogues containing the whole database are placed in the ILO Library Reading Room for users. Copies are sent to selected ILO external offices and other libraries. |
| 1980 | ISIS management is transferred from the ILO to Unesco and renamed CDS/ISIS. The ILO Library adopts MINISIS, based on software for HP minicomputers, developed by IDRC, Ottawa. |
| 1985-1992 | Labordoc reaches 150,000 records. Coverage is expanded by inclusion of subsets of up to ten departmental databases. Labordoc is made available for online searching through several commercial servers: ESA-IRS, Orbit, GBI. UN-ACCIS includes Labordoc on its CD-ROM. Labordoc subsets are distributed on diskettes to ILO external offices using the Micro-CDS/ISIS software developed by Unesco for desktop computers. |
| 1993 | Labordoc reaches 200,000 records. |
| 1995 | Labordoc is made available on CD-ROM by SilverPlatter. Labordoc adopts MARC international format for bibliographic data. |
| 1997 | Extracts of Labordoc are made available on the Internet. ILO staff receive access to Labordoc - nearly 250,000 records - via the Intranet. |
| 1998 | The card catalogue of 100,000 documents of the period 1919-1965 is converted into computerized format and added to Labordoc. ILO Thesaurus, 5th edition is published containing some 4000 keywords with relationships, definitions and notes and including translations in English, French, Spanish and German. |
| 1999 | Labordoc includes links to full texts of documents. |
| December 2002 | Labordoc - with more than 350,000 records and many documents in full text - becomes available on the Internet. |
| 2005 | ILO Thesaurus, 6th edition is made available online. Several ILO libraries around the world begin to contribute their bibliographic information to Labordoc. |
