ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


A

L
CRL

i
 

b
News

r
 I

a
ssue

r
 (

i
A)

e
 of

s
 C

 
olle

n
ge 

e
&

ws No. 5, May 1974
 Research Libraries, Vol. 35, No. 3

College &  Research 

H arvard, Yale, Colum bia, 
NYPL Form  C onsortium

The Research Libraries Group, a consortium 
 3,000 languages and dialects, as well as mil­

­ lions of manuscripts, maps, and microtexts.
d A high priority project is the establishment 
f of a computer-based catalog of holdings of pe­
t riodicals and government documents, etc., in 
­ the four libraries. This will not only improve 
n services in these libraries b u t will also serve as 

a model for other research library cooperative 
l endeavors.
y An investment on th e order of ten to fifteen 
­ million dollars will be required for the develop­
­ mental phase of this massive cooperative ven­
l ture. ■ ■

d 
­
­
­ The University of California Library 
 at Berkeley has established a committee e to study the future of the catalogs at that ­ library. The members of the committee 

are interested in hearing from groups in a other large research libraries who are f studying the feasibility of closing cata­e logs a n d /o r investigating alternate forms 
of catalogs. Other groups who would like ­
to exchange information may contact: t 
Ms. Virginia Pratt, Library School Li­e brary, University of California Library,  
Berkeley, CA 94720.­

of four major American research libraries (the
Research Libraries of the New York Public Li
brary and the libraries of Harvard, Yale, an
Columbia), has announced the completion o
its organizational study and the commencemen
of one of the most important cooperative under
takings to occur in the research library field i
decades.

The Research Libraries Group (R L G ) wil
be incorporated as an entity, separate from an
of its constituents, all of whom will be repre
sented on its board. RLG plans, through coop
erative organization, to promote the economica
development of collections, preservation an
conservation techniques, and more flexible re
ciprocal access to resource material and com
puter-based catalog information. It is the inten
tion of the founding libraries that RLG should
be expanded as soon as practicable to includ
research libraries in other parts of North Amer
ica.

Rising costs, changing technology, and 
more sophisticated and demanding pattern o
user traffic have presented problems which ar
impeding research and scholarly inquiry.

Immediate plans of RLG include the ap
pointment of a director and the establishmen
of a bibliographic information center at Yal
which will collect and disseminate information
on the holdings of the four libraries. The cen
ter will expedite access to the resources of the

participants, which total 26 million volumes in 

C ollege & Research Libraries is published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of 
the American Library Association, 17 times yearly—6 bimonthly journal issues and II monthly, combining July- 
August, News issues at 120,-05 Bluff St., Fulton, Mo. 65251. Subscription, $15.00 a year or, to members of the 
division, $7.50, included in dues. Circulation and advertising office: American Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., 
Chicago, III. 60611. Second-class postage paid at Fulton, Missouri 65251.

News editor: Allan Dyson, Moffitt Undergraduate Library, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. 
Associate News editor: Susana Hinofosa, Assistant Librarian, Reference Department, Moffitt Undergraduate Library. 
Editor: Richard M. Dougherty, University Library, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. President, 
ACRL: Norman Tanis. Executive Secretary, ACRL: Beverly Lynch, ALA.