Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)
http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/aau/fa/report.shtmlReports of the AAU Task Forces
Report of the AAU Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language and Area Studies Materials
Report of the AAU Task Force
Charge
This task force will be made up of librarians, area studies center directors and scholars, and government relations officers. It will be asked to develop a four-part strategy for increasing acquisitions of foreign materials and expanding access to them:
Working in conjunction with area studies groups, develop some measure of needs and priorities for foreign materials by world area.
Establish specific national acquisition targets, based on area-specific needs and priorities and on additional information provided from current studies (see below).
Develop models for collection and distribution of foreign materials.
Develop a plan of action for securing the requisite funding.
Background: Many libraries are facing sharp reductions in their acquisitions of foreign materials due primarily to three developments: (1) the dollar has dropped more than 40% on world currency markets over the last three years; (2) the rising cost of all materials has forced libraries to reduce expenditures on foreign books and materials, and (3) political developments abroad have played havoc with collection strategies--for example, the loss of state subsidies in Eastern Europe has meant that journals formerly obtained through exchange agreements must now be purchased at Western European prices.
The combination of rising serial prices and the increasing need to maintain collections that reflect the rapid and profound political, social, and economic changes throughout the world calls for new cooperative ventures to strengthen our foreign language and area studies centers and expand the access of scholars to them.
ARL is conducting a study funded by the Mellon Foundation to assess what appears to be an inverse relationship between decline in U.S. acquisitions of foreign materials and the explosion in global knowledge. This study should help provide a rational basis for setting acquisition targets as part of a comprehensive national collection and dissemination plan covering the 10 world areas.
Title VI of the Higher Education Act provides a locus for federal funding. Title VI's foreign periodical acquisitions program was first funded in FY 1992 at $500,000. The program is likely to have its authorization ceiling substantially increased and its scope expanded from foreign periodicals to foreign research materials during this year's HEA reauthorization.
Development of procedures for the collection and distribution of foreign periodicals could provide models for more general resource sharing plans.
Preface
This report is the culmination of the year-long examination of the trends in foreign acquisitions for major North American research institutions by the AAU Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language and Area Studies Materials. The Task Force is an initiative of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in collaboration with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). As one component of the tripartite AAU Research Libraries Project, the Task Force was charged with developing and examining options for improving access to and delivery of foreign language materials.
Realizing the problems faced by universities in trying to reconcile increased budgetary constraints against increased demand for foreign research materials, the Task Force set out to develop a working model for cooperative collection development in North America. It is the Task Force's opinion that the key to improving access to and delivery of international research resources is the creation of a network-based, distributed program for coordinated development of foreign acquisitions for U.S. and Canadian research libraries.
The Task Force's proposal outlines the development of three area based projects to demonstrate the success of such a plan. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of a distributed North American collection, the demonstration projects will be launched to show how different world areas can be incorporated into an overall program. They will also aggressively test the barriers to distributed access and evaluate the impact of the plan on scholars communication and research. The three projects will focus upon Latin American Acquisitions, German language acquisitions, and Japanese language scientific and technical resources.
Introduction
Educational institutions and industries are directly affected by the accelerating push towards a globalized information market. This is especially true in the United States and Canada, where the scholarly community is linked by electronic networks, characterized by endemic social and technological change, and subject to rapidly shifting economic and political pressures. Readily accessible information resources are therefore critical for stable and fair policy formation, productive research, effective education, and national information infrastructure creation.
Research libraries play a critical role in supporting this international agenda for change. Despite their vital importance in disseminating information in an increasingly globalized information market, demand from libraries for foreign materials has steadily eroded in the last decade. Each year research libraries in the aggregate are able to purchase a smaller portion of published foreign resources than the year before.
With the increasing emphasis on international cooperation, research universities are committed to fostering "internationalization" in both their curricula and research priorities. At the same time however, American and Canadian research libraries are actually reducing acquisitions of foreign publications because of increased budgetary constraints.
The Task Force was not only concerned with this gap between demand and availability of foreign language materials in North American research libraries, but with its impact on teaching, research and scholarship. The importance of foreign imprints to area studies and language programs is self-evident, but it is also essential that scholars in the social sciences, humanities, and physical and biological sciences have access to current research findings, wherever they exist.
Therefore, the Task Force's work built upon the efforts of the related, but separate, ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project. This earlier initiative measured the extent to which North American research libraries have reduced foreign publications acquisitions for research and teaching. The Task Force's primary focus was on developing a distributed service model for the acquisition and distribution of foreign materials. Related efforts looked at strategies for educating university administrators about the impact of this new model, and at fashioning strategies and funding mechanisms for implementing such a program. Measures of the needs and priorities for foreign materials, and the development of specific national acquisitions targets, were referred to the continuing work of the ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project.
After more than a year of concentrated effort, involving meetings of the full Task Force and preparation of issue papers by smaller groups, the Task Force has realized that a fundamental transformation is needed in the way research libraries operate. Working within the constraints of three themes: opportunity, change, and discontinuity, the Task Force concluded that:
Current information technology provides the opportunity to move toward a fully linked digitized network of research library collections;
Fundamental changes are needed to facilitate such a move toward such electronic resource sharing. Foremost is the reallocation of acquisitions funds away from those "associated with building a self-sufficient collection" and toward "those associated with cooperative collection development and sharing" [1]; and
Library services should be restructured to rely more heavily on remote access and digitized materials rather than on maintaining print-based materials.
These recommendations offered by the Task Force are directed towards maintaining foreign acquisitions at a level adequate to North American needs. The Task Force recommends the development of a network-based, distributed program for coordinated collection development of foreign language materials among U.S. and Canadian research libraries.
Resource sharing has long been important for research libraries, and the Task Force strongly believes that cooperative collection development initiatives can only be successful if effective document delivery is assured. One of the basic themes underlying the Task Force's analysis is the vital importance of the electronic infrastructure in improving access to and delivery of information resources. The electronic telecommunications explosion and high-powered desktop computers have the potential to dramatically transform the ways in which scholars gain access to research materials worldwide. This electronic superhighway will make speedy access to vast amounts of information possible.
Recognizing the many complexities of foreign acquisitions, the Task Force has come to appreciate the difficulty, even the impossibility, of solving all of the problems at once. But the Task Force also believes that this is certainly the time to act, and thus makes the following recommendations. To test the viability of implementing a distributed, networked, cooperative program for foreign acquisitions among major North American universities and libraries, the Task Force recommends conducting three diverse demonstration projects. These will target Latin American acquisitions, German language acquisitions, and Japanese language scientific and technical resources.
Summary of Task Force Recommendations
The Task Force concluded that a trial collaborative program would provide the most effective strategy for improving access to global materials. At the same time, this program would also provide the needed information infrastructure that supports the transition to electronic resource sharing.
Recommendation I
The major North American research universities and libraries should organize a distributed program for access to foreign acquisitions. This program should include the Library of Congress and foreign national and research libraries working together to organize a cooperative program that shares the responsibility for acquiring, organizing, and facilitating access to foreign acquisitions.
The Task Force believes that such a program is the most effective way to provide access to foreign materials in research libraries. It builds on the current architecture of collaborative interdependence among research libraries. It also calls for the long-term development of a systematic program for coordinated collection development of foreign materials among U.S. and Canadian research libraries. Under this plan, participating institutions will share responsibility for collecting foreign imprint publications, and for distributing the "distributed North American collection of foreign materials." Implicit in the design of the program is the need to develop organizational structures and selection mechanisms to support the building of foreign language collections on a multi-institutional, cooperative basis. The Task Force recommends that the program be developed in an evolutionary manner, taking advantage of cooperative programs that already exist.
Recommendation II
The major North American research universities and libraries should implement the program through three demonstration projects.
The Task Force recommends that three demonstration projects be launched to show how different world areas can be incorporated into one successful program. The demonstration projects will aggressively test the barriers to distributed access and evaluate their impact on faculty. The initial projects will target Latin American acquisitions, German language acquisitions, and Japanese language scientific and technical resources.
Recommendation III
The Task Force identified several strategic objectives that must be addressed:
Universities should plan and fund the electronic infrastructure necessary to support the new avenues of access and delivery crucial to the success of a distributed North American collection.
University leaders and their research librarians should articulate incentives to scholars and faculty for moving away from local and toward remote access, so that an individual institution's library may develop in-depth collections in a few selected areas, but provide remote access to many more in-depth collections.
Planning and development of the distributed program should focus special attention on meeting the needs of scholars and researchers and thereby build support among faculty; without such faculty support, the ultimate objectives will be difficult to achieve.
University leaders and their research libraries should recognize the need for addressing issues related to managing intellectual property rights, recognizing that copyright laws differ substantially throughout the world.
Historical Perspectives on Foreign Acquisitions
Due primarily to increasing budgetary constraints, financial support for acquiring global materials has steadily eroded in the last decade. Evidence of the problems in foreign acquisitions is provided by the Association of Research Libraries' Foreign Acquisitions Project, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Reports from the studies conducted by U.S. and Canadian collection specialists underscore that ARL libraries are not acquiring and making available as great a proportion of foreign publications as required; due largely to the declining purchasing power of the dollar in the global market, inflation, and the growing numbers of foreign publications available or known to be available.
The aggregate decline in the number of titles acquired by libraries is highlighted by the chart that follows. It is based on cataloging data for libraries that contribute records to the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) database. The chart displays the number of unique titles for the period 1988 through 1992 based on the year of imprint and the country of publication. The 1992 data is incomplete because the items acquired by libraries may not yet be cataloged.
Compounding the foreign access problem is the inability of the Library of Congress to maintain its past level of foreign acquisitions, as seen in the proportion of foreign publications made available through the Library's far-reaching programs. The extensive study of the operations and economics of research libraries, University Libraries and Scholarly Communication, brings these problems into sharp focus. Prepared for The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this study shows that the rate of increase in books acquired by university research libraries virtually halted in the 1970s and 1980s, while the number of titles published internationally continued to increase [2].
International publishing has increased much more rapidly than acquisitions budgets during the past four decades. Even a cursory examination of the data on international publishing reveals substantial growth in the number of new titles. From 1980 to 1990, worldwide book production increased by 45 percent, and European book publishing has grown at a rate substantially ahead of U.S. publishing. So great is the disparity that the six most productive European countries (Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands), which in 1971 produced about 1.5 times as many titles as American publishers, now produce more than twice the number of titles of their American counterparts. [3]
Changes in research patterns have also created new demands for foreign language materials. The shift to problem-driven research has been accompanied by greater diversity of needs and therefore, increased demand. The growing importance of nontraditional areas of investigation, such as global environmental studies, sustainable development, ethnicity, and nationalism, require a broader array of materials. This explosion in the quantity of desirable material, rapid escalation of unit prices for these items, and increased demand jeopardize the traditional research library mission. It is the Task Force's opinion that these problems can no longer be addressed through intra-institutional solutions.
As noted above, the rapid emergence of electronic information technologies promises to replace traditional venues of collection access with digitized, remote access, making materials available to scholars and students when needed. But fundamental to the success of this new paradigm is the existence of at least one fully accessible, archival copy (preferably digitized) of all the publications necessary for research and teaching; and the existence of a means (a database, a network and a delivery system) for identifying and accessing those publications.
A Program for the Distribution Collection of Foreign Acquisitions
The key to improving access to and delivery of international research resources is the creation of a network-based, distributed program for coordinated development of foreign acquisitions for U.S. and Canadian research libraries.
The recommended program has two complimentary components: 1) restoration and maintenance of a strong collection in support of education, research, and public policy; and 2) creation of the organizational and electronic infrastructure to support reliable electronic access and delivery of information resources in foreign language, area, and international studies. A prerequisite for the development of such a program is a strong and distributed research collection of foreign materials created through institutional cooperation.
Organizing Principles
The "organizing principles" or prerequisites for a successful program are:
Building a broad-based commitment to maintain foreign acquisitions adequate to meet national needs;
Implementing the plan through a series of smaller-scale demonstration projects designed to evolve within the framework of the overall program;
Improving access to and delivery of information to ensure timely and effective use;
Developing the campus networks and the electronic infrastructure to facilitate electronic document delivery;
Utilizing existing programs, organizations and consortia that support the plan's goals and recognizing the inherent strengths of existing programs, such as the National Resource Centers and their libraries or other foundation-supported programs;
Building an area-based acquisition program that incorporates ongoing assessments of the needs of diverse users;
Developing a realistic financial plan for providing ongoing support from multiple sources;
Recognizing the present and potential roles played by the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine, National Agricultural Library, National Library of Canada, and other national institutions;
Strengthening collaborative programs with foreign libraries, archives, and information services; and
Incorporating mechanisms for collective consultation, program evaluation, and periodic revision of acquisition strategies.
Components of the Program
The sections below outline the general aspects of a network-based distributed system for cooperative development of foreign imprint collections. The mission statement charts broad directions for the program and will serve as the framework for specific demonstration projects. Implicit in the plan is the development of a series of area-based programs tailored to the needs and special characteristics of each area. Because the problems and possibilities differ for each, these world areas will have their own structures and set of goals and priorities.
1. Participation
The Task Force recommends that each institution's participation in the plan be based on that institution's willingness to commit resources in support of the program. Also important, is its ability to contribute to and participate actively in a network-based subject/area plan, as evidenced by adequate existing collections, staff, and financial resources.
Both the Library of Congress and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) have evidenced their willingness to participate. CRL, because of its established programs for foreign acquisitions and maintenance of substantial collections of foreign research materials, will be a full, cooperative participant in the plan. Their collection will serve to supplement the collections of major North American research libraries.
A principal element of the plan will be CRL's thirty-years of experience in administering both foreign area studies acquisitions and preservation projects. Their established mechanism for cooperative collection development of foreign materials not highly demanded, such as dissertations, archives, and foreign official gazettes will serve as a blueprint for the plan.
The National Library of Medicine, the National Agricultural Library, and the National Library of Canada will also play a part in the plan. Over time, the development of foreign language and area collections, as well as access services, will become an international effort involving major national and research libraries overseas. With the rapid advances in telecommunications, greater cooperation on a global scale will be possible.
Institutions participating in the plan will be encouraged to examine the possibilities of cooperative ventures with other foreign libraries. The national libraries listed above could be particularly helpful in forging collaborative programs with foreign national libraries.
2. Components of Responsibility
The plan proposes that participating institutions agree to identify suitable staff and resources to manage the network-based acquisition and access services. These would include the ability to use and navigate the Internet and other networks, develop planning and writing skills to effectively communicate with diverse constituencies, manage print and network-based bulletin boards and newsletters, and organize meetings on a national level on the network and through professional organizations
Institutions which commit to participation in the plan will agree to engage in it for at least five years. Participating institutions will agree (individually or as consortia) to maintain and manage research collections, to provide bibliographic access on a priority basis to the national bibliographic networks, and to provide access to those collections so developed on a continuing basis via interlibrary loan, in-person on-site access, and via other document transmission methods. A high priority will be placed on digitization of materials acquired under the terms of the plan.
3. Governance and Administration
The Task Force recognizes that there will be a need for a continuing AAU/ARL presence in the program to facilitate advancement and fundraising efforts. The Task Force recommends that the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of American Universities comprise the organizational coalition and that the Association of Research Libraries, through its Research Collections Committee provide program oversight.
By its very nature, the governance structure will involve change and be a continuing concern. As the demonstration projects move forward, working relationships among all the stakeholders will need to be carefully and thoughtfully developed. To begin, the Task Force advocates a dual approach. ARL will provide the overall coordination of the program, assist in fund raising efforts, and evaluate the program. However, specific foreign area library committees or organizations will have primary operational responsibility for area-based projects.
4. Layered Funding Plan
A central theme in the Task Force discussions was the need to achieve implementation of the program through the use of multiple funding strategies and sources. One of the most popular strategies is the reallocation of acquisitions funds from those "associated with building a self-sufficient collection" to "those associated with cooperative collection development and sharing." [4] A second principle is the shift in priorities from acquisitions expenditures to document delivery. Part of the current financial commitment from research libraries would be transferred from acquiring and processing materials to retrieving or transferring materials needed by scholars.
This shift implicitly requires a fundamental change in the ways research libraries operate. Libraries will have to reconsider the allocation of financial resources among maintaining on-site collections or providing access to remote resources, and supporting digitized materials or maintaining print-based materials.
The Task Force funding strategy calls for a three-tiered funding plan. One primary source of funding is utilization of existing acquisitions budgets. Participating institutions will provide a base level of funding to increase acquisitions in targeted areas.
The second source of funding is cost recovery for document delivery. Libraries that are not participating in the program, but relying on access, will reallocate funds from their acquisitions budgets to document delivery. Payments for interlibrary delivery of materials acquired under the terms of the system will depend on the terms of the individual institutional policies.
Outside grants are the third source of funding. It is anticipated that the establishment of the plan will be a magnet for funding from a variety of sources. Libraries designated as resource deposits may be able to use their participation in the program as a marketing tool for local fund-raising efforts. The Task Force also recommends that AAU and ARL develop an initiative for federal funding of a foreign acquisition program, perhaps in conjunction with Title VI Centers.
Impact on Faculty
In the last decade, research universities have invested heavily in information technology. Since the mid-1980s, telecommunications networks have changed dramatically. The dramatic growth in the Internet, availability of fiber-optics, and implementation of local area networks have revolutionized access to and distribution of research materials. The advent of relatively low cost, high powered desktop computers has made it possible to store, transfer and retrieve whole texts electronically and rapidly, thereby transforming the ways scholars are gaining access to needed materials. The current technology of electronic catalogs and bibliographic databases makes the process of searching for needed materials less cumbersome.
Enhanced access to scholarly information has also increased pressures on the traditional process of interlibrary lending and borrowing. Despite recent initiatives to modernize interlibrary loan programs, it is the shift to electronic resource sharing that will finally create the foundation for pooled resources. This will require each institution and research library to consider the most effective ways for allocating resources within a multi-institutional framework for access to information.
The greatest incentive for faculty and researchers to embrace the proposed plan will be the ease with which they will be able to identify, locate and access foreign language and area studies materials. If faculty and researchers see the plan as a way of removing impediments to research and increasing the availability of research materials, they will be more willing to support the new system. If campus communities are convinced that the plan is both cost-effective and offers improved access, they will also be more likely to embrace it.
Therefore, the demonstration projects must address the major problems currently impeding access by users to foreign language and area studies materials, namely: coordination problems, technical impediments, human resource and political issues. Lack of coordinated collection development among campuses and insufficient coordination between federal agencies charged with providing information, and between North America and foreign countries, are all issues which must be addressed in order to make a distributed, cooperative plan succeed.
Specifically, the three demonstration projects must address the concern among those who depend on library collections that spending on enhanced access will not diminish available foreign research materials. Also, intellectual property and other ownership questions must be answered in order to ensure scholars that these legal barriers have been overcome. Finally, technical training for campus users and librarians will be necessary to enable optimum use of the plan's resources.
All the strategies considered for educating campus constituencies should view area studies librarians and bibliographers as key players for providing training. They can serve as important resources on campus, by building on their subject knowledge and adding technical expertise. Professional associations in area studies and foreign languages can also be tapped as educational resources for their members.
On many university campuses the central office of international education should promote the goals and strategies of the proposed program and build bridges of communication to all campus constituencies. Successful implementation of the demonstration projects will require the active participation of foreign area faculty, directors of international programs and university administrators. All these players must be engaged in implementing the chosen strategies on each participating campus.
Implementation Strategy
In order to achieve the ultimate goal of a distributed North American collection, three demonstration projects will be launched to show how different world areas can be incorporated into an overall program. They will also aggressively test the barriers to distributed access and evaluate the impact of the plan on scholars communication and research.
The initially targeted areas will include Latin America, Japan and Germany. These area's needs for foreign acquisitions have been identified by the ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project and they each have the personnel necessary to implement the program. These areas were also chosen because external funding is strong and because it will be possible to build on current national interests in foreign acquisitions. They will also illustrate how the program will be impacted by differing levels of network capabilities and electronic information.
The rationale for Latin American acquisitions is threefold. First, the Seminar for the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) could provide organizational support. SALALM has a successful record in facilitating cooperative collection development programs. Second, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has recently indicated its intent to provide substantial funding for building a hemisphere-wide, distributed system for Latin American library resources between North and South American research libraries. Lastly, electronic resources are just starting to become available in Latin America, where research has traditionally relied upon print-based material.
The demonstration project for Japanese language materials focuses on scientific and technical journals and serials. The Japanese collections in North America have already made substantial progress in resource sharing in the field of area studies. However, there has been a dramatic growth in Japanese research and an accompanying increase in demand for its results. The demonstration project would therefore build on the current support for network connections among the participants of the recently established National Coordinating Committee for Japanese Libraries. This focus on scientific and technical serials is different from the focus of the other two demonstration projects and may open avenues to new sources of funding, such as the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
The German acquisitions project is geared toward focusing on the "high impact" area of Western European studies. The number of faculty in this area is already substantial, the number of titles routinely collected is considerable, library research materials are expensive, and the booktrade and subject bibliographers are well-organized. Finally, digitization technology is well-advanced.
These three demonstration projects will be the preliminary trials for larger program. They are designed to demonstrate that different areas of the world can eventually be incorporated into an cooperative program of shared acquisition and distribution. The preliminary project plans are described below.
Proposal for the Demonstration Project for the Coordinated Development of Latin American Studies Resources
1. Project Scope
During the beginning phase, the project will focus on collaborative resource development for three types of Latin American research materials: journals and serials, government documents, and working papers and other publications of research institutes that prove difficult to acquire. Research libraries holding Latin American studies collections in North America have already made substantial progress in sharing resources and linking collections. Toward this end, the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) fostered national-level cooperative collection development and forged strong links with the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). The proposed project will build on these efforts and develop the mechanisms for dividing responsibility for collaborative collection management among North American research libraries.
2. Project methodology
This blueprint for the demonstration phase is the result of a special planning effort by the newly appointed Steering Committee for the Latin American Demonstration Project. The Steering Committee identified three objectives that are to be accomplished during the first year. They are:
To identify less expensive ways to acquire copyrighted materials in order to reallocate funds which can be used to maintain and enlarge holdings of core and new materials. The vehicle for addressing this problem is collaborative, distributed management of journals published in Latin America.
To provide increased access to valuable non-copyrighted materials using newly developed technology. Currently, the Library of Congress acquires the major government documents from Latin America. The problem will be addressed through a feasibility study on the effect of digitization technology on the availability of these materials across the nation.
To create depositories for and wide access to copyrighted materials whose information will soon become outdated. The vehicle for addressing this objective is the collaborative acquisition of working papers and technical reports issued by research institutes in Latin America.
Implementing the three-pronged program will require institutions to share the responsibility for acquiring the resources and making them accessible. It will also require an assessment of institutional readiness for electronic resource sharing. Also, a determination will have to be made on the feasibility of utilizing an existing information network service such as UT-LANIC (operated by the Latin American Network Information Center at the University of Texas in Austin). Finally, a decision must be made on which documents will be selected for access and distribution. To undertake these tasks, the Steering Committee has recommended the appointment of a full-time coordinator to oversee the start-up period.
3. Participants
In general participants would be selected according to the following criteria:
A. Strength of Latin American studies programs and collections, including size/scope of collections; availability of technical and fiscal resources to contribute to the project; needs of faculty and researchers; and demand for Latin American studies resources.
B. The desire of the institution to participate in the program. This includes libraries in need of Latin American studies materials which are able to commit resources.
4. Governance
ARL will provide the administrative umbrella for fund-raising support, coordination with other demonstration projects, and project evaluation. However, the demonstration project will be coordinated by the existing Steering Committee composed of representatives of research institutions and participating organizations, including SALALM, LASA, and the Library of Congress.
5. Funding
ARL will prepare an initial grant proposal to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the funds for the project coordinator and the start of the demonstration project.
Participating institutions will be required to commit to the project a percentage of their resources currently provided for Latin American acquisitions. They will also be expected to increase their contribution throughout the course of the project by reallocating existing funds or through local fund-raising efforts. The ARL administration will be charged with coordinating efforts to raise a percentage of the annual project cost (including costs of enhanced library technology and acquisitions) through public and private sources.
Proposal for Demonstration Project for the Coordinated Development of Japanese Language Scientific and Technical Serials in North America
1. Project Scope
This demonstration project will focus upon Japanese language journals and serials in high impact science and technology fields. The implementation of the Ohio State University Digitization Project and the use of existing tele- communications technology will offer the potential for networked access. During the past five years, research libraries holding major Japanese collections in North America have made substantial progress toward a network- based distributed program of acquisitions in traditional area-studies fields. The proposed project will build on these efforts and broaden its scope to encompass scientific and technical resources. It will also establish close links with the new Library of Congress Japan Documentation Center. The ultimate goal will be to expand access to and improve delivery of journal articles.
Initial project objectives are to create a union list of available Japanese science and technology journals in North American research libraries; to include the titles in major indexing and abstracting services; increase the availability of English language abstracts, and selective or cover-to-cover translations; identify additional journal titles for cooperative acquisitions; offer tables of contents of selected journals electronically; and improve the mechanisms for electronic delivery of science journals.
2. Project Methodology
Determining the project's methodology will require a better understanding of existing activities in North American research libraries as well as federal government programs. The most effective way to begin is to work with the universities that currently operate Japan STI programs. This approach will help in identify the core group of potential project participants.
The critical first step is to determine existing holdings of major journal titles, determine the most effective ways to improve access, and identify the additional journal or serial titles that should be acquired. The Diet Library Directory of Japanese Scientific Journals will be used as the tool for determining available and needed journals. It will also determine coverage of the major journals in abstracting and indexing services.
The project participants will be responsible for identifying other alternatives, if needed, as the demonstration project evolves. One such alternative may be to begin the project in one or two selected fields, such as computer science or biotechnology.
3. Participants
In general participants would be selected according to the following criteria:
A. Strength of Japanese science and technology program, including size/scope of collections; technical and fiscal resources to contribute to the project; needs of faculty and researchers and demand for Japanese language STI.
B. The desire of the institution to participate in the program. This category would include libraries which need access to Japanese science journals and which are able to contribute the necessary resources.
4. Governance
ARL and the National Coordinating Committee on Japanese Library Collections will provide the administrative umbrella for fund-raising support, coordination with other demonstration projects, and project evaluation. However, the demonstration project will be self-directed by a Steering Committee composed of representatives of participating institutions.
5. Funding
ARL and NCC will prepare an initial proposal assessing the level of current efforts and needs.
Participating institutions will be required to commit to the project a percentage of their resources currently provided for Japanese acquisitions. They will also be expected to increase their contribution throughout the course of the project by reallocating existing funds or through local fund-raising efforts. The ARL administration will be charged with coordinating efforts to raise a percentage of the annual project cost (including costs of enhanced library technology and acquisitions) through public and private sources. Potential funding sources include the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, and corporate sponsors.
Proposal for Demonstration Project for the Coordinated Development of German Resources
1. Project Scope
The proposed project will include topics in history, political science, sociology, anthropology and economics in all languages published in Germany. The final determination of scope will be the responsibility of the project participants. This determination will depend upon the relative strengths and needs of research programs and the subject and language specialties represented.
Determining the project's scope also includes defining and assigning the tasks to be accomplished. These include identifying and selecting participants; determining the roles of librarians, faculty and scholars; determining the level of administrative support to be provided by the Association of Research Libraries; developing a methodology for identifying and selecting appropriate materials; establishing evaluation standards to measure progress; and determining a schedule for acceptable progress, including review periods and identification of reports to be prepared.
2. Project Methodology
The project will commence with the appointment of a Steering Committee consisting of faculty and librarians specializing in German studies, with expertise in social sciences. This Committee will be charged with determining the project scope, identifying and selecting participants, drafting contractual agreements, and establishing the project schedule. They will also provide project oversight on a continuing basis, in close coordination with the ARL administration. The term of the demonstration project will be no greater than five years with interim reports issued at least annually.
The methodology criteria will be developed under the guidance of the Steering Committee and in consultation with all participants. The process will be based on the individual strengths and needs of the participants and will include responsibilities for selection, cataloging, digitizing (and other access/preservation processing), and accessing materials in all formats.
3. Participants
Fifteen to twenty participating institutions will be selected according to the following criteria:
A. Strength of the collections program, including size/scope of collection and rate of current acquisitions of materials in all formats; availability of technical and fiscal resources to contribute to the project; experience and skill of faculty, librarians and support staff, including subject/area/language disciplines represented, networking and other technical skills.
B. Geographical representation, including Canadian libraries.
C. Desire of the institution to participate in the program. Including consideration of libraries of any size or type which that are able to commit resources to the project and need access to German research publications. This includes national, foreign, special and independent research libraries, and institutions that are part of complementary programs such as the DOE Title VI national resource centers and members of the Center for Research Libraries.
4. Governance
ARL will provide the administration for fund-raising support, coordination with other demonstration projects, and project evaluation. The project will be self-directed by a Steering Committee composed of the participants, including, collection specialists, a liaison to the ALA West European Studies Specialists, representatives from faculty, and representatives from library technical processing and document delivery specialties.
5. Funding
Participating institutions will be required to commit to the project a percentage of their resources currently provided for German acquisitions. They will also be expected to increase their contribution throughout the course of the project by reallocating existing funds or through local fund-raising efforts. The ARL administration will be charged with coordinating efforts to raise a percentage of the annual project cost (including costs of enhanced library technology and acquisitions) through public and private sources.
Evaluation of the Program
Careful evaluation of the three demonstration projects and any future area-based programs will be a critical step in moving toward a comprehensive program for foreign acquisitions. The Task Force recommends that ARL and AAU jointly coordinate the assessment of the demonstration projects. In measuring progress, evaluators will want to be assured that:
Research libraries in North America have restored and are maintaining acquisitions of foreign materials at levels adequate to North American needs.
Significant progress has been made in assuring effective and timely access to and delivery of foreign research materials. Specifically, campus networks and their electronic infrastructures have been developed sufficiently to support selective electronic resource sharing and that interlibrary loan services have been modernized.
The projects have developed realistic financial strategy that incorporate reallocation as a central funding source.
Foreign area specialists and other faculty who routinely rely upon foreign language materials have become convinced that the program is producing improved access. The impact on users is a critical factor.
To facilitate ongoing monitoring, the Task Force advocates that annual reports be specified, cumulated and widely distributed. Also advocated is a rigorously performed mid-term review in the second year. At the end of the 5-year period, a final review will be performed.
Endnotes
1. Anthony M. Cummings, et.al. University Libraries and Scholarly Communication: A Study Prepared for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 1992: 142.