Austin, Texas
May 18-20, 1994

The Research Library the Day After Tomorrow

Program Session V: Introduction

Millicent Abell, Convener, Yale University
Myles Brand, University of Oregon

MS. ABELL: We gather this morning to review three reports, the product of an intensive and fruitful collaboration among the Association of American Universities, the Association of Research Libraries, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This is the work of some three dozen scholars, librarians, and administrators. As Dan Atkins said in his paper, their work has resulted in some very powerful analyses and recommendations. This session is not really about studying and reporting, however. It is about action. As we progress through the program this morning, I hope that all of us will be thinking in terms of how to translate the ideas, proposals, and recommendations before us into speedy and effective action.

To introduce the work of the group this morning, I would like to introduce Myles Brand, the president of the University of Oregon. Mr. Brand has been named the next president of Indiana University and will be starting in August. He is returning to the Midwest where, before going to Oregon, he had been provost and vice president for academic affairs of Ohio State University. He is a philosopher, he has a distinguished scholarly career, and, as is true of everyone on the program today, he has been involved on both the production and the consumption side of scholarly information. Mr. Brand, will you get us started?

MR. BRAND: I want to thank ARL for inviting us all here today to share with you the progress we have made so far and to talk about the next steps.

The discussion on this project began as early as fall 1991. There were really two driving forces for the presidents and chancellors. One, we were concerned with the spiraling costs of library acquisitions, most especially serials and journals, and the inability of the institutions to keep pace with the needs--not to just reach the level of expansion that was necessary to match the additional worldwide output, but also to just keep pace with the current situation. We also felt that in many areas we were all collecting the same core group of materials, thereby maybe denying wider access to scholars, which leads to the second point. We thought that we could find new ways to take advantage of the revolutionary communication techniques, hardware, and software that were being developed and perhaps lead the way to the creation of a North American distributed library.

The AAU Research Libraries Project began in earnest in April 1992. The AAU undertook the project itself in order to assure that the perspectives of research libraries would play a central role in the evolution of national information policies and practices affecting university instruction, research, scholarship, and creative activity. The steering committee was initially chaired by Hanna Gray from the University of Chicago, and when she went into retirement in July 1993, I assumed this chair. The main work of the steering committee was to coordinate three task forces: Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language Area Studies Materials, A National Strategy for Managing Scientific and Technological Information, and Intellectual Property Rights and the Electronic Environment. The reports were received by the presidents and chancellors at the AAU annual membership meeting in May. After some discussion these reports were accepted unanimously. In all honesty, I only remember one instance in my time with the AAU where something was accepted unanimously by that group. There was great enthusiasm amongst the chancellors and presidents.

There was also an interesting undercurrent of anxiety at the presidents and chancellors meeting. They said, "We are willing to carry the water and get out in front. We hope that the librarians are with us." In the few discussions I have had here so far this morning, there is an underlying anxiety, too. Librarians are saying, "We are willing to carry the water and get out in front, we hope the presidents and chancellors are with us."

The AAU has worked most collaboratively with ARL. I want to thank Duane Webster, in particular, for his attention to this and great support from him and his staff. I want to thank John Vaughn, too, for the leadership he has provided at the AAU. Most especially, I want to thank The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which made the project possible through its support. Mellon has been enormously helpful in assessing the current situation and enabling future planning.

To my mind this project is only a first step, and even a small one, toward developing a highly accessible information network that meets the needs of future faculty and students. In this session we will review with you the work from the task forces and, specifically, their recommendations.