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…

This document consists of the five issues of the bimonthly ARL (Association of Research Libraries) newsletter which cover the year 2000. Each issue includes some or all of the following sections: "Current Issues"; reports from SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), Coalition for Networked Information, Office of…

Proposes a model based on mechanical selection for core collection development that is appropriate for large and medium-size academic research libraries. Statistics that show a large percent of desirable books are published by a small percent of publishers are presented, and titles published by university presses and by commercial presses are…

A study has found that scholarly journal subscriptions have risen over 18 percent in 1986-87, with a few publishers accounting for most of the increase. Some feel publishers are charging as much as the market can bear. Libraries are beginning to share subscriptions and collections more. (MSE)

Discusses the national program for preservation microfilming in research libraries and suggests that microfilm is not the appropriate medium to be used. Recommendations for the electronic storage of materials on computerized databases are made; disadvantages of microfilm are described; interlibrary loan problems are discussed; and effects on…

The role of the research library and issues in access to increasing quantities of information are discussed, including the problems of cataloging and classifying information and the barriers to access often created by librarians. (MSE)

The six papers compiled here cover issues related to acquisition, library cooperation, and collection development. In "The UK Serials Group: A British Success Story," David P. Woodworth describes the background and work of the Serials Group, an autonomous British organization which aims to bridge the gap between serials producers and…

Discusses issues related to managing electronic resources in academic libraries from a vendor's perspective. Topics include collection development policies; format and content; decisions to buy, borrow, or link to online resources; ethics and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition); service, cost, and value; vendors'…

Describes a survey that examined the effects of increasing serial subscription costs on American and Canadian research libraries. Strategies adopted by libraries are described, including faculty and campus involvement, retrenchment, long range planning, and shared resources. Relationships with publishers and the possible impact of electronic…

The costs of scholarly publishing have become unsustainable for both research libraries and university presses. This paper discusses how the transition to electronic journal publishing changes the ways in which these two participants in the scholarly communication process begin to analyze and attempt to control their cost structures in order to…