I am writing to alert you to a new effort concerning German political science library materials. The project described below is a response to the problems faced by North American research libraries. During the 1990's research libraries have reduced their acquisitions of German language materials as the result of unprecedented increases in the cost of all library materials and the budgetary pressures facing educational institutions.
The Association of Research Libraries' German Demonstration project aims to reverse this trend and to develop in the U.S. and Canada collections and services that are essential for the study of German politics and public life since 1945. The project will take full advantage of the economies and efficiencies promised by the combination of cooperative acquisitions and electronic delivery mechanisms. In the rapidly evolving environment of networked information, remote access, and desktop delivery, technology offers the potential for realizing a seamless web of interconnected coordinated, and interdependent research collections that are accessible to geographically distributed users. Significant benefits can be seen in sharing specialized research resources (obviating the need for duplicative investments) and in improving access to the growing universe of scholarly information resources. The challenges of building this "North American digital library" for German Studies are manifold.
The purpose of this email message is to invite your comments on the draft plan for coordinated development of German library resources. We are especially interested in your views on the impact of shifting to coordinated, distributed collections that will become increasingly available in electronic form. Please send your comments to me via email (jutta@cni.org) or via letter to: Association of Research Libraries, 21 Dupont Circle, N.W. Washington, DC. 20036.
DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR THE COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN LIBRARY RESOURCES.
DRAFT PLAN
January 1995
I. BACKGROUND
Many U.S. and Canadian research libraries are facing reductions in their acquisition of German materials due primarily to the combination of rising cost of materials and increasing budgetary constraints. Evidence of this erosion was provided by the recent study of German political science materials from the period 1985-1992, which showed that collecting fell short of adequacy in every significant category.
The framework for the proposed demonstration project is set out in the final report of Association of American Universities (MU) Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language and Area Studies Materials. As one component of the tripartite MU Research Libraries Project, this Task Force was charged to develop and examine options for improving access to and delivery of foreign language materials. The Task Force has recommended the pursuit of a network-based, distributed program for coordinated collection development for foreign acquisitions. This Task Force recommendation calls for the implementation of a multi-institutional network of U.S. and Canadian research libraries that would share responsibility for collecting foreign imprint publications. To test the barriers to distributed access and evaluate the impact of such a plan on the users of research library collections, three demonstration projects are proposed, one of which is for German research resources.
II. PROJECT GOALS
The five primary project goals are:
Implicit in these specific goals is the overarching objective, which is shared with the other demonstration projects: to test the viability of implementing a distributed, networked, cooperative program for foreign acquisitions among major North American universities and libraries.
II I. PROJECT SCOPE
The basic cornerstone of the proposed German demonstration project is building the collections and electronic infrastructure to improve access to and delivery of German research resources. The proposed project scope will focus on German politics and public life since 1945. The project will encompass initially three categories of materials in this arena: The acquisition of all core as well as specialized research monographs is one central project focus. A second project purpose is to enrich the available number of German language journals. The third category is federal documents, especially ministerial reports, parliamentary series, and statistical publications.
Another key component is building links to German research libraries. The project will investigate the feasibility of building the electronic platform for the exchange of economic, policy related, legal and other information among North American and German research libraries. There is already a small nucleus of research libraries in Germany, which are interested in pursuing a joint project
IV. GOVERNANCE AND PARTICIPANTS
The Association and Research Libraries in collaboration with the Association of American Universities will provide the administrative umbrella for fund-raising support, for coordination with other demonstration projects, and for project evaluation. The Library of Congress will provide operational support for the project.
A Working Group on the German Demonstration Project, consisting of faculty members, research library directors, and bibliographers specializing in German political science, will provide oversight and general counsel concerning project policies, assist in building support for this effort in the ARL community and evaluate the project at the end of the first year.
ARL Working Group on the German Demonstration Project Members
ARL staff:
Jutta Reed-Scott, Senior Program Officer for Preservation and Collections Services
Duane E. Webster, Executive Director
Information Liaison:
Martha Hsu ALA, WESS Subcommittee for the Collaborative Collection Development in German Social Sciences Cornell University
LC Advisors:
Margrit Krewson,German and Dutch Area Specialist, Library of Congress
Sarah Thomas, Director for Cataloging, Library of Congress