Scope and Content Note
The records of the Association of Research Libraries span the years 1932-1981 and document the efforts of the association to improve the collections and services of member research libraries in North America. The records are organized into the following series: General Records, Administrative File, Membership, Committees and Projects, Office of University Library Management Studies, National Serials Pilot Project, Associations, Affiliations, and Joint Committees, Meetings, Legislation, and Copyright.
General Records consist of correspondence, memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, financial records, printed matter, and miscellaneous items concerning the organizational structure and administration of the association. The records reflect on membership requirements and admittances, the deliberations of internal and cooperative committees, relationships with affiliated organizations, and various projects administered by the association, including the Farmington Plan, the Public law 480 program, the Foreign Newspaper Microfilm Project, and the publication of the first Library of Congress catalog initiated and sponsored by the association. Materials in the General Records series were processed by Library staff in 1985.
The Administrative File includes board of directors materials, financial documents, general correspondence, papers of association presidents, executive directors, and executive secretaries, and other office records.
The Membership series consists of correspondence and other material concerning member institutions, non-member institutions, member statistics, the membership committee, and potential members.
Committees and Projects includes correspondence, research, printed material, forms, reports, proposals, surveys, and other materials related to various commissions, committees, task forces, studies, and projects administered by the association. Areas of study include academic library statistics, interlibrary loan, census data, preservation of library materials, book storage, foreign acquisitions and newspapers, and interlibrary communication. Other committees and projects include the Center for Chinese Research Materials, the Farmington Plan committee, the Microform Technology Project, the National Periodicals Center, the Slavic Bibliographic and Documentation Center, and the Federal Relations Committee.
The Office of University Library Management Studies was developed by the association to address the increased need for management expertise among library professionals. The office also assisted in the completion of the Study of Organization and Staffing of the Columbia University Libraries (1970-1971), sponsored by the association in cooperation with the American Council on Education under a grant from the Council on Library Resources. The series consists of reports, chronological files, correspondence, and printed material.
The National Serials Pilot Project was administered by the association on behalf of the three national libraries, with the goals of creating a machine-readable file containing live serials, producing preliminary listings, and producing reports on procedures, problems, and results. The series includes chronological files, correspondence, financial material, reports, meeting notes, personnel records, press releases, proposals, publications, and technical documentation related to the National Serials Pilot Project, Phase II of the National Serials Data Program.
The Associations, Affiliations, and Joint Committees series consists of correspondence, printed material, meeting minutes, publications, and other material concerning associations and organizations affiliated with, but not administered by the association. Associations include the American Council on Education, the American Library Association (ALA), the Committee on Scientific and Technical Information (COSATI), the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United States Office of Education.
The Meetings series includes correspondence, minutes, and printed materials concerning attendance, programming, locations, and expenses for various meetings and conferences, chiefly the Federal Information Resources Conference, and the biannual membership meeting of the association.
The Legislation series contains correspondence, press releases, printed material, and congressional publications concerning national legislation related to libraries, education, and information technology. Legislation includes Representative John D. Dingell's amendments to the Agricultural Trade and Development Assistance Act (Public Law 480), the Higher Education Act of 1965 and subsequent amendments, the National Advisory Commission on Libraries, appropriations, and tax reform.
The Copyright series includes correspondence, committee material, clippings, legal briefs, and printed and published material concerning the copyright law of the United States. The material chiefly concerns revisions to the copyright law and the 1975 case Williams & Wilkins Co. v. United States, in which the Supreme Court held that it was a fair use for libraries to photocopy articles for use by patrons engaged in scientific research.