ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the beneficial effects of competition in research among scholars and research centres. It provides a consideration of the types of library resources used in research in industrial organization. In introducing Professor Michael Gort's paper, Professor Coase hoped that, since the paper was among the shorter ones presented to the conference, his own introduction might also be short. Professor Coase interpreted Professor Gort's paper as agreeing that libraries should specialize in particular sorts of material, but as denying that such specialization should be planned in advance. The chapter considers the types of specialization possible and their implications. First, specialization may take the form of co-ordinated development of library resources within small geographical areas such as cities. Second, specialization may involve books and documents that are readily transferable through inter-library loans or, alternatively, may involve resources that are intrinsically difficult to transfer.
