Reviewed and endorsed by the ARL Board of Directors February 12-13, 2004
Reviewed and endorsed by the AAU/ARL GRN Advisory Committee March 26, 2004
Overview
The AAU/ARL Global Resources Network (GRN) aspires to broad participation by libraries within and beyond the United States and Canada. The Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) are variously responsible for the Network's oversight and administration. The Network also manifests itself through a number of specific, self-governing projects that (at present) target six world areas.
The purpose of this discussion document is to codify GRN's membership and financial base in the following three respects:
- Who is entitled to share in the benefits that result from the Network and its projects?
- How will the Global Resources Network cover its costs? Who will pay for GRN staff support, meetings, travel, and such administrative operations as webpage maintenance and accounting?
- How will each project cover its own out-of-pocket costs for meetings, license fees, grant administration, publicity, etc.? How can the projects generate revenue to support new initiatives?
This document suggests general principles for GRN participation and fees in order to move all the stakeholders--currently AAU, ARL, CRL, and the six projects--toward consensus with regard to the issues listed above and the ways to address them. Each organization will then need both to ratify and to operationalize this common understanding.
The Short Version
ARL will fund GRN's core budget. All ARL members, through the ARL Board and in conjunction with AAU and CRL, participate in GRN's governance. All ARL members likewise benefit from the activities carried out through GRN. Non-ARL institutions may participate as Associate Members of the Global Resources Network.
General operational support for most GRN projects will be provided through the emerging AAU/ARL partnership with the Center for Research Libraries. Each project may assess fees and then limit its governance and decision-making to fee-paying institutions. Basic project products and services will, as a general rule, be available without restriction to both project members and non-members. Access to value-added initiatives may, however, be limited to fee-paying members.
The remainder of this document expands upon these basic principles as they apply to a broader array of institutions and in a wider variety of circumstances.
Definitions
Global Resources Network refers at once to the program as a whole, and also to GRN's upcoming effort to consciously reduce duplication and intensify interdependence among research libraries. This centerpiece GRN initiative, which is still taking shape, will initially focus on coordinated collecting programs that function in tandem with rapid, cost-effective mechanisms for document delivery and interlibrary loan. Eventual extension into electronic formats is likely as well.
GRN projects are the discrete initiatives undertaken by groups of libraries (including some that do not participate in the Network) in order to meet objectives that are defined within each group, as informed by GRN's overall vision and goals. The six current projects correspond to Germany, Japan, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. We expect that the number and nature of these projects will change over time.
The Benefits of Membership
Both the Global Resources Network and the GRN projects will continue to pursue many specific activities. Most basic products and services will be freely available to the entire research library community and beyond. For instance, cooperative indexing and cataloging projects are generating bibliographic data that are currently available through OCLC or on open websites like those of LANIC and the Center for Research Libraries. The more diverse hardcopy holdings expected from the "network" initiative will similarly be accessible to all through interlibrary loan.
Several categories of value-added services, however, may be limited to the members of GRN and/or its projects:
- Experimental projects, trial initiatives, and fledgling efforts
- Products or services with access restrictions
- Projects that are funded through subscriptions, use fees, or mechanisms for cost-recovery
- Special "value added" services that are associated with broadly accessible products. For instance, the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project (LARRP) has constructed a massive table-of-contents database for Latin American journals. The bibliographic information is freely available through LANIC, and anyone can request specific items through interlibrary loan. LAPTOC also offers a special feature for expedited, patron-initiated document delivery. This additional capability, however, is only available to LARRP members.
Principles for Membership and Fees
Membership is the vehicle through which the Global Resources Network and its projects sustain themselves both programmatically and financially. Members provide financial support and enjoy the benefits of active engagement in governance and policymaking, plus access to value-added services. Overall GRN governance will continue to be provided by ARL's Board and the AAU/ARL GRN Advisory Committee. Project governance will be established within each initiative.
ARL is responsible for meeting the basic financial requirements of the Global Resources Network and its potential expansion, including the Center for Research Libraries' costs for administering the affiliated projects. Annual revenue targets will be established on the basis of periodic projections and reviews.
Non-profit research institutions that are not members of ARL may participate in the Global Resources Network as "Associate Members." These institutions will not be involved in GRN's governance. Any fees will be determined through consultation among AAU, ARL, and CRL, and structured so as to encourage the widest possible participation.
Membership in GRN's various projects is distinct from membership in GRN as a whole.
Each GRN project may develop its own membership criteria, including fees, for those institutions that wish to participate in project governance, support additional project activities, and enjoy access to value-added services. This model for governance and fees is similar to that of the self-governing Area Studies Microform Projects that are associated with the Center for Research Libraries.
Non-profit research institutions that are not members of ARL may elect to become members of any or all GRN projects. Project fees should reflect institutional size and capacity, and also the specific circumstances of international institutions. GRN's core costs include ARL's support for expenditures incurred by the Center for Research Libraries in administering the GRN projects; project participants that are neither ARL members nor "Associate Members" of GRN may therefore be assessed an additional fee to cover these base expenses. The very specialized institutions that participate in only one project, however, may be exempted from these additional fees. GRN projects that are not administered through CRL may likewise be exempted from these fees.
Each project may pursue grants and other sources of external support. The Center for Research Libraries will in most cases serve as the applicant institution and grant administrator.
Provisions for consortial participation in either GRN or GRN projects have not yet been defined.
ARL will fund GRN's core budget, and may also collect any fees that may be levied upon Associate Members. CRL will bill for and administer the fees that are established within its associated GRN projects.
Global Resources Network, May 2004 Update Report
