Covers extent and distribution of American library resources, types of libraries, cooperative acquisition programs, microforms, bibliographic control, subject specialization, surveys of holdings, nature of research holdings, research library standards, collection development methods, and the future of the book. (LS)

Fremont Rider's 1944 book, "The Scholar and the Future of the Research Library", had a major impact on research library thinking. The issues raised by Rider, such as research library economics, collection, acquisition and management policies, and library cooperation still resonate today, although his technology solutions have long since been…