New From ARL: SPEC Kit 324: Collecting Global Resources

The purpose of this survey was to identify trends, practices, and challenges in collecting global resources in North American research libraries at a time of po- litical and economic change, on the one hand, and of significant change in scholarly communication and collection management strategies, on the other.

For this survey, global resources was defined as print and electronic library materials that are pub- lished outside the United States and Canada in any language on any topic. This may include, but is not limited to, traditional area studies materials, and it is not limited to resources typically associated with the field of Global Studies. A global resources librarian was defined as a librarian working with global resources as described in this survey.

We consider the term “collecting” widely to in- clude issues such as collection management/develop- ment, access, digitization, preservation, and public service.

From the News Release:

The survey results clearly demonstrate that support for global resources in North American research libraries is strong and predicted to remain so in the foreseeable future. Budget and space challenges, as well as increasing electronic access to resources with resulting changes in research habits of students and faculty, will create new and different patterns in collection growth. In response, many ARL libraries either already have or are in the process of creating organizational structures that facilitate intense outreach activities, in-depth reference, and collaborative collection development.