Search results

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of today's information environment is the pace of technological innovation. The phenomenal increase in computer memory capacity and speed of access, and the development of ever more powerful but less expensive computer chips, stimulate creation of expanded applications. The changing nature of automated systems requires continuous adjustment to cycles of expanding, ever‐changing information systems.

Automation planners need to view retrospective conversion from an informed and balanced perspective. They must consider: 1) the technical dimensions of retrospective conversion, 2) the appropriate standards to employ, 3) the proper relationship of conversion activities to the entire automation project, and 4) options available for converting a bibliographic database into machine‐readable format. Six prominent consultants provide important advice on this topic.

Cooperation among research libraries is a venerable pursuit with a long history. The purpose of this paper is to examine three collaborative tools and programs ranging from the late 1970s to the present to identify the promise of each as well as the challenges, the factors that both facilitate and interfere with true cooperation, highlighting the lessons learned.

The author analyzes the development and functions of the Conspectus of the Research Libraries Group, the Global Resources Program of the Association of Research Libraries, and the Triangle Research Libraries Network in the state of North Carolina, USA.

While the goals of collaborative collections initiatives are laudable, it is often difficult to accomplish true, balanced, and lasting cooperation that results in both expanded access and financial reallocation.

The study is a first-hand, inside look at the methods and mechanisms of cooperative collection development that offers suggestions for future partnerships on either a small or a large scale.

The AAU/ARL (Association of American Universities/Association of Research Libraries) Global Resources Program was launched early in 1997 by the Association of Research Libraries, with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Reviews the development of the related projects that preceded the establishment of the AAU/ARL Global Resources Program, describing the context for its creation and the goals it aspires to fulfil, and identifies some of the challenges the Program faces on the path to full implementation. It is hoped that the AAU/ARL Global Resources Program will encourage us to develop true international collaboration, branching out from accomplishments thus far, as the Program itself built on the efforts that preceded it.

Imagine, if you will, that the year 2010 has arrived, and that many of the wonderful things that librarians worked so hard for in the last half of the twentieth century have come to pass. Libraries of all types, large and small, are linked through a network of automated systems, providing total bibliographic access to the holdings of every library. Better still, patrons now receive items in hours or days through a combination of telefacsimile and ultrafast delivery. To the users, each library has become a gateway to all resources held by all libraries, and library information services are “location transparent,” that is, the patron has little awareness of where a piece of information may in fact have come from—it may be from a library across the street or from one across the country.

The RLG (Research Libraries Group) conspectus was developed in 1980 by the Collection Management and Development Committee of the Research Libraries Group. The committee was comprised of one representative from each full and associate RLG member institution. David H. Stam served as Chairman of the committee and Paul Mosher served as Vice‐Chairman. Anticipating the challenges of acquisitions budgeting in a period of inflationary pricing for library materials, the committee worked to identify a methodology in which RLG member libraries could better coordinate the growth and management of their collections. The result was the development of the RLG conspectus.