May 2004
The AAU/ARL Global Resources Network (GRN) has embraced two main goals. GRN will expand access to international resources not currently available to North American students and scholars, in the first instance through discrete projects that focus on significantly expanding the depth, breadth, quantity, range of formats, and variety of international information resources available to our students and scholars. A parallel effort will make our dispersed collections more interdependent and complementary through coordinated acquisitions that are combined with powerful systems for access, discovery, presentation, and delivery. The following report highlights key GRN activities in 2004.
GRN's Goals and Outcomes
A slightly revised "AAU/ARL Global Resources Network Goals and Outcomes, 2004-2007" was endorsed by the ARL Board of Directors at its February 2004 meeting and by the GRN Advisory Committee at its March 2004 meeting.
The document describes the steps proposed to advance the GRN vision in 2004, and suggests some activities for 2005 and beyond. The three priority activities proposed for GRN are:
1. coordinating international acquisitions to expand overall coverage
and reduce unnecessary duplication;
2. enhancing the scale, scope, and effectiveness of GRN projects, and
3. managing and growing the Global Resources Network.
The Role of the Center for Research Libraries and Project Migrations
The boards of the Association of Research Libraries and the Center for Research Libraries approved an agreement that will govern the partnership between ARL and CRL for the Center to assume administrative responsibility for the GRN projects that request such assistance. CRL will also seek opportunities to promote synergies, facilitate communications, and exploit efficiencies among and across all of the GRN projects. The document also enables CRL to promote synergies, facilitate communications, and exploit efficiencies among and across all these projects. The first two projects migrating to CRL are the German Resources Project and the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project. June 1 is the target date for the transfer to be complete.
GRN Participation and Fees
"The AAU/ARL Global Resources Network and the Global Resources Projects: Principles for Participation and Fees" summarizes the discussions on GRN's membership and financial base. The document articulates the framework for membership in the network and/or one or more projects. The boards of CRL and ARL, and the GRN Advisory Committee endorsed the document.
Finances
As of May 3, 76 ARL members voluntarily contributed $1,500 apiece providing ARL with $114,000 of bridge funding to support the GRN during 2004.
ARL will fund GRN's core budget in 2004 with this bridge funding plus a modest reallocation from existing dues. Funding for GRN activities in 2005 and beyond is a question currently being addressed by the ARL Board.
GRN projects may elect to assess fees to their members to carry out specific project activities.
Meetings in 2004
The AAU/ARL GRN Advisory Committee, chaired by Barbara Allen, CIC, convened on March 26. The committee modified slightly and endorsed the "Goals and Outcomes, 2004-2007," approved a five-year transition budget, approved the "GRN Roles and Responsibilities", and agreed on the "Principles for Participation and Fees." The group also identified characteristics of the GRN, a cooperative international cooperation and collection development model to make libraries more interdependent and complementary through coordinated acquisitions. This network also includes powerful systems for access, discovery, presentation, and delivery. The committee meeting advanced thinking about the development of a prototype project based on a discussion document on models for collections cooperation and rationalization. The committee established an executive group, which will focus on day-to-day activities, and agreed that the full advisory committee will meet annually. Betsy Wilson (Washington) provided an update on a research project using OCLC data to identify library collection overlap and gaps by country and region. Alice Prochaska (Yale) is leading an effort to develop the prototype for an outreach summit focusing on scholarly uses of and needs for international resources. GRN Advisory Committee members are included on the roster on the ARL Web site http://www.arl.org/collect/grp/roster.html , and summaries of GRN Advisory Committee meetings are available at http://www.arl.org/collect/grp/advisory.html.
At its February meeting, the ARL Board of Directors reviewed the status and plans for GRN as well as the operating agreements drafted with AAU and CRL since last fall. The Board reviewed a five-year financial projection and endorsed continuing to plan for GRN to become part of the dues-supported core ARL collections program. They asked staff to prepare alternative financial strategies for their review. The Board also endorsed a proposal for a partnership with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) that provides two GRN projects with administrative support, and finally, they also endorsed the financial and relationship principles outlined in the document GRN Principles for Participation and Fees.
The Center for Research Libraries hosted a plenary meeting on April 26, 2004 of representatives from GRN, the GRN projects, and CRL staff. GRN project leaders provided updates on their respective activities and CRL staff discussed CRL projects and activities relating to international resources. Participants identified a number of activities where sharing of expertise among the projects and between the projects and CRL might lead to new synergies. The points of intersection include: identification and discovery of resources; interlibrary loan and document delivery; cooperative collection development and distribution; development of digital collections and electronic resources; and project infrastructure support, fundraising, publicity, and promotion. Participants were energized about developing a GRN-wide project, perhaps a project focusing on image collections around the world.
Transition in GRN Leadership
Eudora Loh was appointed as an ARL Visiting Program Officer (VPO) and part time Director of the GRN as of June 1. Dora is currently Latin American and Iberian Bibliographer at UCLA and is outgoing chair of the GRN Latin Americanist Research Resources Project Advisory Committee. Dora and Dan Hazen have worked closely to ensure a smooth transition of leadership for GRN. Dan is completing his term as a VPO on part-time loan from Harvard because he has assumed his new position as Head of the Collection Development Department for Widener Library.
How to Join GRN Projects
ARL and non-ARL libraries are welcome to join one or more of the projects by contracting the project's director. Current GRN projects include: the Cooperative African Newspapers Project, German Resources Project, Japan Project, Latin American Research Resources Project, Digital South Asia Library , and the Southeast Asia Indexing Project. Activities of the projects vary; some of the projects charge a project fee or are planning to assess a fee. Contact information for each of the projects may be found at: http://www.arl.org/collect/grp/grp.html.
Below this summary is a list of key GRN documents, several of which were endorsed by the ARL Board of Directors and the GRN Advisory Committee this spring. Included among these documents is the "AAU/ARL Global Resources Network Timeline" which summarizes the activities over the past decade. The timeline was prepared for the Advisory Committee's March meeting.
The AAU/ARL Global Resources Network Goals and Outcomes,
2004-2007, March 26, 2004
AAU/ARL Global Resources Network Roles and Relationships,
March 26, 2004
The AAU/ARL Global Resources Network and the Global Resources
Projects: Principles for Participation and Fees, March 26, 2004
Libraries Contributing Bridge Funding to the GRN, May 5, 2004
AAU/ARL Global Resources Network Timeline
5/3/04
