ABSTRACT
The project on the future of North America’s research libraries conducted by the ARL and the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Mellon Foundation had been underway for some time before I became aware of it in the late fall and early winter of 1992, three years ago. I was asked to be a member of the AAU Research Libraries Task Force on Acquisition and Distribution of Foreign Language and Area Studies Materials. This was a distinguished and lively group of people, ably led by John H. D’Arms, Vice Provost at the University of Michigan. I had a lot to learn about libraries and their problems in a short time.
