ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries College & Research Libraries news No. 9, October 1974 ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries, Vol. 35, No. 5 RLG Chooses Director, Gets Mellon Grant The Research Libraries Group (R L G ), a re­ ate of the University of Michigan and has held i­ library posts at Washington and Jefferson Col­ , lege, Ohio State University, University of ­ Michigan, Michigan State University, Universi­ ­ ty of Connecticut, Princeton, and the University 0 of California at Rerkeley. He also served as the . first executive director of the Association of Re­ ­ search Libraries. t * * * ­ r In a related development, the Research L i­ d braries Group has issued a reply to recent cries o f anguish from the publishing world regarding y the effect such consortia will have on book and r serial sales. Since this issue will undoubtedly ­ affect similar arrangements around the country, ­ th e editors o f the News publish this statement st in its entirety below. ­ e The Research Libraries Group (RLG ) has ­ noted a number of published statements that i­ misconstrue the objectives of RLG with respect n to copyrighted materials and future acquisi­ ­ tions. The RLG, which comprises the research i­ libraries of The New York Public Library and the libraries of Columbia, Harvard, and Yale s Universities, hopes that the following statement t will clarify this matter. ­ The participating libraries are convinced that cently formed consortium of the research l braries of The New York Public Library, Yale Harvard, and Columbia universities, has an nounced the appointment of Dr. James E. Skip per as director and the award of a $750,00 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The grant will be applied over a three-year pe riod and represents approximately 40 percen of the total amount budgeted for that pe riod. Additional funding will come from othe private sources, the federal government, an from the participating institutions themselves. RLG was established to improve availabilit of and access to recorded materials in membe libraries. It contemplates the use of highly de veloped computer and communications tech nology on a concerted basis. Among the fir plans of RLG is the establishment of a biblio graphic data center at New Haven to provid effective access to a combined collection of ap proximately 26½ million volumes. The consort um will also be able to help each institutio cope realistically with the compounding finan cial concerns which each of the member l braries face. The newly appointed director of RLG, Jame E. Skipper, is currently executive vice-presiden of Kraus Thomson Organization. He is a gradu News items for inclusion in C&RL News should be sent t o A llan J. Dyson, M o ffit t U n derg rad u a te Library, Uni­ v e rs ity of C a lifo rn ia , Berkeley, C A 94720. A dvertising (including classified ads) should be sent to Janice Sher, A dvertising O ffic e , A m erican Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Production and circulation m atters are handled by A L A C entral Production Unit, at the above address. News ed ito r: A llan J. Dyson, H e ad , M o ffit t U n derg rad u a te Library, University of C a lifo rn ia, Berkeley. Associate News ed ito r: Susana Hinoļosa, Assistant Librarian, Reference D epartm ent, M o ffitt U n dergraduate Library. Editor: Richard’ D. Johnson, M iln e Library, State University C o lleg e, O neont a, New York 13820. President, A C RL: H . W illia m Axford. Executive Secretary, A C RL: Beverly P. Lynch. C o lle g e & Research Libraries is published by the Association o f C o lleg e and Research Libraries, a division of the Am erican Library Association, 17 tim es yea rly—6 bimonthly journal issues and I I monthly (com bining July- A ugust) News issues— at 1201-05 Bluff St., Fulton, M O 65251. Subscription, $15.00 a year, or to members of the division, $7.50, included in dues. Seco nd-class postage p a id a t Fulton, Missouri 65251. 21 4 they individually now operate within the fair use doctrine as it has evolved from judicial in­ terpretations of the Copyright Law. They will, of course, continue to abide by that law as members of the RLG. The misunderstanding of the intentions of RLG probably stems from an inadequate un­ derstanding of the present and future state of research libraries and of the role that the RLG is expected to play. For two decades the costs of university libraries have advanced annually at approximately 11% compounded, thereby substantially exceeding the increase in higher education budgets, the cost of living, the expan­ sion of endowment portfolios, and a number of other related indexes. It is categorically certain that these library costs cannot continue to rise at this rate; inevitably there is going to be— in fact already is— a reduction in the capacity of research libraries not only to buy publications but to sustain the related costs of creating the bibliographical controls for ever larger masses of material and the ever more extensive physi­ cal plants to house these materials. The future of the research library that tries to go it alone is bleak: the users of such libraries will have to accept the sharply reduced availability of pub­ lications at their disposal, an inexorable conse­ quence of budgets that cannot keep pace with inflation. The RLG is a mechanism created to alleviate these adverse effects in several ways. By coop­ erative use of the computer it is expected that unit costs of cataloguing will be kept far below what they would otherwise be in what is now a very labor-intensive operation. This technolo­ gy also has the capacity of making known in­ stantaneously the holdings of the participating libraries. As librarians with decades of experience, the directors of the RLG libraries know that • English language materials are the most used; nonetheless, for research purposes we acquire more publications in foreign languages than in English; • many “serials”—by which we mean peri­ odicals, government documents and re­ ports, publications of learned societies, statistical annuals, etc.— are called for from time to time, but there is conclusive evidence that 90% of the use of such seri­ als tends to be concentrated in about 10% of the titl es. A substantial percentage of these publications are not covered by copyright. There appears to be the mistaken presump­ tion in some quarters that if RLG were not es­ tablished the participating libraries would somehow have more funds for acquisitions. This is a sad, even a pathetic illusion. It is the existence, not the absence, of RLG that should have this effect. The planned joint computer operations of RLG will control unit cataloguing costs in the long run, and funds thus saved can be diverted to other purposes, and certainly of high priority among these purposes will be ac­ quisitions. The Research Libraries Group plans to de ploy available funds to achieve maximum avail ability of material. One obvious device is not to duplicate lesser-used materials unnecessarily, particularly serials largely of foreign origin. This should not be interpreted to mean that fewer total journal or periodical subscriptions will be placed. It is quite likely that the num­ ber of different titles will be increased. On the other hand, the cost of binding, housing an preserving volumes is so substantial that the number of files permanently retained—especial ly files of little-used government publications, annual reports and the like— may very well be reduced. The RLG directors have the greatest sym­ pathy for the interests of authors, but the effect of RLG on authors, commercial publishers, and particularly monographic publishers is so mini­ mal that the allegations to the contrary that have been published are seriously misleading. The suggestion that the RLG will somehow ad­ versely affect the antiquarian book trade is even more improbable. The editors have received the follow­ ing communication from Garland Pub­ lishing, Inc., 10 E. 44 St., New York, NY 10017: Garland is a young (four years old, to be exact) publisher that has heretofore published scholarly reprint series. Re­ cently, however, we launched a rather ambitious new program to publish origi­ nal reference works, mainly bibliogra­ phies. We have about twenty-seven un­ der contract and will publish the first seven or eight this fall (we have pre­ viously published only one, William Ward’s two-volume bibliography, Liter­ ary Reviews in British Periodicals, 1798– 1820, and it has done very well). I know that reference librarians are one good source of bibliographies and checklists, and we would be most grate­ ful if you would let your readers know that we would be delighted to consider for publication any projects they may have in mind or are now working on. We offer good royalties and distribution throughout the world. Many thanks for your help. Peter Kemeny Editor-in-Chief ­ ­ d ­ 21 5 By a process of rigorous selection, publica­ tions believed to have the greatest present and future utility are now acquired. A future char­ acterized by more restrictive acquisitions bud­ gets will require even more rigorous selection, and the legitimate fear of publishers is not that RLG will harm them but rather that the publi­ cations they offer may not be sufficiently meri­ torious to be chosen in a highly competitive market. The really worthwhile title will be ac­ quired by all RLG participants, sometimes in multiple copies. And it must be understood that there is nothing in the RLG program that pre­ vents any participating library from buying any publication it wishes in any number of copies considered essential for local demand. In summary, the RLG directors reiterate that they will continue to operate within the fair use doctrine applicable to the Copyright Law. We are convinced that the existence of RLG will in no way significantly affect the number of publications that the participating libraries would purchase if RLG did not exist. It is our intention to avoid unnecessary duplication of lesser-used publications, particularly those seri­ als in the more exotic foreign languages and in the more abstruse subject areas. The signifi­ cance of wise buying conducted on this prin­ ciple is that funds will be available for a greater range of publications and for duplication of titles where demand so dictates. The ultimate goal of the Research Libraries Group is neither narrow nor parochial but rath­ er to serve the needs of research and scholar­ ship and, therefore, the broader public interest. We are entering a period that demands ingenu­ ity in the deployment of resources and in the creation of new systems for delivering informa­ tion. Either we will be equal to the task of meeting these exacting new imperatives or we will fail in our mission to the very considerable disadvantage of society generally. Warren J. Haas Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian Columbia University Rutherford D. Rogers University Librarian Yale University Douglas W. Bryant Director of the University Library Harvard University Richard W. Couper President and Chief Executive Officer The New York Public Library ■ ■ The 5-Minute. Whole-Eαrth. Reseαrcher’s Computerized Dream: An Individually Tailored n e Resea x rch S u ource s List. A Baker & T a y lo r In fo rm a tio n Service D ep artm ent L-51 P.O. Box 15 17 Costa Mesa, C alifornia 9 2 6 2 6 H elp. We can h e lp y o u p ro v id e new re fin e m e n ts in research assistance. In o u r da ta banks are th e title s an d a u th o rs o f eve ry a r tic le ever p u b lis h e d in an y o f 5 3 5 h is to ry , s o c io lo g y and p o litic a l science jo u rn a ls p u b lis h e d th e w o r ld ove r, b o th w e ll-k n o w n an d o b scure, since th o se jo u rn a ls began– m o re th a n 3 5 0 ,0 0 0 a rtic le s in a ll, go in g ba ck to 1 8 3 4 . W e’ ll search th e file b y c o m p u te r f o r a n y to p ic , fu r n is h in g a p r e lim in a r y b ib lio g ra p h y w ith e n lig h te n in g s p e e d - f o r o n ly 10 cents per c ita tio n , plus a $ 5 c o m p u te r use fee (and, o f cou rse, th e a p ­ p lic a b le sales ta x e s ). W ith a research source lis t in d iv id u a lly ta ilo r e d t o th e s c h o la r’ s needs, m o re tim e can be d e v o te d to th e h e a rt o f th e m a tte r: th e re ading , th in k in g an d w r itin g in ­ v o lv e d in p re p a rin g th e paper, thesis, d is s e rta tio n o r m o n o ­ graph. We even have d ire c t te le p h o n e service to speed th in g s u p ; replies co m e a irm a il, C.O.D. R e fe r y o u r researchers to us; call to ll- fr e e t o place an o rd e r: 8 0 0 - 8 5 4 - 3 3 7 9 (In C a lifo rn ia , call us c o lle c t a t 7 1 4 /5 5 8 -0 7 1 5 .) O r send f o r d e ta ile d s e lf-m a ile r o rd e r fo rm s . Rush com puter bibliography service order form s. (L51) N A M E (Please Print) T I T L E C O M P L E T E M A IL IN G A D D R E S S C IT Y S T A T E Z IP © Copyright 1974, W.R. Grace & Company