Bascologists have dreamed of creating a map of Basque dialects ever since Julio Urquijo first proposed the idea in 1918. In 1921, Resurrección María Azkue, then President of Euskaltzaindia, presented the Triple Questionnaire (Erizkizundi Irukoitza) project proposal at the academy's congress.
Various sessions on this topic were held thereafter, and the Dialectology Committee was set up 1980 to build on this work and create the dialectological atlas.
The Azkue Library and Archive serves Euskaltzaindia. It is also open to all researchers and it aims to foster research and support the distribution of Basque cultural issues as far as it is able.