June 26, 1998

Mr. Richard Johnson
SPARC Enterprise Director
21 Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
USA

Dear Mr. Johnson,

This is to inform you of CARL/ABRS's support for the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition initiative. I note that a large number of individual CARL/ABRC libraries who hold membership in ARL have become founding members of SPARC.

CARL/ABRC feels strongly that the challenge of equitable access to published scholarly research, especially in the field of science publishing, is a major issue confronting the world's research libraries. We welcome the opportunity to participate in SPARC as a practical way to address some aspects of the complex and difficult issues involved.

Since the issues are of international concern, CARL/ABRC encourages SPARC to develop an international perspective and the building of international partnerships amongst the research libraries of the world.

The SPARC initiative relates directly to a number of findings and recommendations made in the Final Report of the AUCC-CARL/ABRC Task Force on Academic Libraries and Scholarly Communication, The Changing World of Scholarly Communication: Challenges and Choices for Canada (November 1996).

I look forward to the continuing collaboration and cooperation between our respective organizations.

Yours sincerely,

Marnie Swanson, President CARL/ABRC
http://www.carl-abrc.ca/