ABSTRACT
As an institution, the modern research library is both a product and an integral part of the current system of scholarly communication. Research libraries actually underwrite a major part of the cost of scholarly publication today. As with all well-established major institutions, the library now follows its own imperatives. In response to continued budget pressures and escalation in publication prices, many research libraries are focusing their collections more narrowly through cancellation programs and an emphasis on acquisition of journals over monographs. A great deal of management attention in libraries is concentrated on service and budget issues that concern the vitality and quality of the institution’s traditional missions.
