ABSTRACT
Libraries and librarians cooperated on a coordinated program to ensure the adequate coverage of research materials. The raison d’etre of the research library collection, or its growth, has been challenged on two counts. First, the prospect of unlimited growth, physical growth, is indeed daunting and almost unthinkable in the final analysis. Second, it has been suggested that the traditional accumulation of library materials, mostly printed materials, will soon no longer be necessary or feasible because research will be more and more electronically produced and supported. To quote Oscar Handlin, American historian and Director Emeritus of the Harvard University Library: Information is essentially a large but inert body of materials, for which the terminology warehousing is entirely appropriate. All libraries, European and North American, can benefit from cooperative efforts. The program can be best strengthened when librarians and publishers, scholars and book dealers, work together to sharpen the vision, broaden the outlook and define the needs.
