Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

The agenda below was discussed in the final session of the June 27-29, 2001, symposium held at Brown University, "Building on Strength: Developing an ARL Agenda for Special Collections," by Joe A. Hewitt (Director of Academic Affairs Libraries, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Merrily Taylor (University Librarian, Brown University), former and current chairs of the ARL Research Collections Committee, respectively. This agenda will be discussed by the committee at its October 2001 meeting and next steps will be determined.

As context for the committee discussion, comments on this proposed agenda are invited, from conference participants as well as those who were unable to attend.

1. ARL should promote special collections as a fundamental and indispensable part of the research library mission in the modern university through a statement of principles describing the obligation of research libraries to collect, preserve, and make available the primary historical and cultural record. Concurrently, a demonstrated institutional commitment to special collections and related services should be a criterion for membership in ARL.

2. ARL should initiate appropriate collective action related to special collections as it has in areas such as scholarly communications, copyright, global resources, and diversity. In doing so, ARL should seek to work as a facilitating organization that mobilizes member libraries and other organizations to address the general issues of special collections in research university libraries.

3. At a time when the traditional role and priority of special collections in the university library are being questioned, ARL should provide programs to members that assist them in developing, managing, and supporting special collections in the contexts of modern scholarship and pedagogy, and trends in higher education.

4. ARL should ensure that its other projects and programs address special collections whenever appropriate. A special collections liaison, similar to the preservation liaison, should be considered for ARL as an ongoing advocate for special collections interests in ARL.

5. ARL should work with others to develop a coordinated approach to the collecting and preservation of the voluminous records of the 19th and 20th centuries and to the challenges of new formats and sources of archival data in the modern age. ARL and its member libraries should work with each other and with other agencies to inventory, map, and, where appropriate, define responsibility for collecting and preserving primary materials of all types.

6. Ongoing statistical efforts relating to special collections should be established under ARL auspices. This effort should focus on the gathering of core longitudinal data on an annual or biennial basis, as well as on occasional special efforts as needed through the SPEC process or a similar mechanism.

7. ARL should encourage individual institutions to provide shared intellectual access to their frequently substantial backlogs of special collections materials without such access. ARL can assist in this effort by advocating for and administering funding to support access projects, and by developing or endorsing model guidelines for adequate access. ARL should also acknowledge the importance of access in any statement of principles. This item was cited by the participants in the conference at Brown as of primary importance.

8. ARL should assume a coordinating role or should support external efforts to ensure that information regarding digitization projects is appropriately shared among institutions in order to foster collaboration and prevent duplication. ARL should also advocate for the continued importance of original materials in the digital age and should participate in or endorse the articulation of reasonable expectations for the ongoing stewardship of these materials following reformatting.

9. ARL should encourage further investigation into the status of preservation efforts for special collections materials and should develop model guidelines for preservation programs which will be effective in addressing these materials. The ARL preservation liaison should be invited to participate in these efforts or to propose appropriate representation from the special collections community. ARL should also advocate for and, when appropriate, endorse guidelines and standards for the preservation of information in electronic form.

10. ARL should support the education of the next generation of special collections librarians and determining core competencies. ARL should sponsor further systematic research into the changing nature of the profession and assist member libraries in creating opportunities to develop special collections professionals. Models similar to those developed for the training of area studies librarians should be considered.

11. ARL should incorporate into its portfolio of legal concerns the problems created by the Tax Reform Act of 1969, which does not allow a charitable deduction for self-created works, and work actively for the repeal of this provision of the Federal Tax Code.