Thursday, September 20, 2001, 10:08:59 AM, Albert Henderson wrote:

AH>         Actually, I am not speaking of the typical college or
AH>         university. I am concerned primarily with 100 "research
AH>         universities" and others granting advanced degrees calling
AH>         for competence in original investigations.

Well, I'll certainly say nothing against the elite universities of the
world, but they are a small minority of the universities and libraries
in the USA.  And though they generally have the largest budgets,
library and otherwise, they certainly don't drive the entire market
for journals.  I've worked in a couple of libraries that are in the
top 100 of ARL libraries, but they were state universities and perhaps
not "elite enough" for your definition.

AH> The colleges
AH>         that have inflated their names but which don't bring in
AH>         sponsored research are only kidding themselves.

There are a great many more that DO bring in sponsored research and do
a fine job of doing the research and producing fine scholars from
their doctoral programs.  Their degrees may not have the cachet of one
from Harvard or Yale, but that doesn't make them any the less
qualified, educated, or prepared for a career of research and/or
teaching.

AH> On the
AH>         other hand, those who solicit taxpayer supported, often
AH>         Congressionally earmarked, studies with a huge overhead
AH>         allocation probably cannot deliver excellence without
AH>         excellent resources.

In these days of rapid and efficient electronic interlibrary loan, the
question of ownership of the resources is much less important.  Yes,
libraries should still strive to have strong collections.  Yes,
somebody has to own it in the beginning.  However, the need for 500
libraries to own a particular scholarly journal is dissipating.  I
understand that that is a concern of the folks you represent, and it
would be mine if I were in that business.  However, the importance of
the local library actually holding a copy of the article becomes ever
less important to the scholar doing the research, like it or not.

The times they are a changin'

dan

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan@RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!