ABSTRACT
GMRLC emerged from a group that consisted originally of eight libraries whose parent universities belonged to the Association of Big Eight Universities (ABEU), plus five additional university libraries in the region. These thirteen libraries were known as "ABEU Plus" and their deans and directors met regularly for a number of years. In October 1992 the group took the new name of Greater Midwest Research Library Consortium, and formalized its existence through bylaws, a governance structure, and a mission statement. In November 1994, it expanded to include four Texas libraries whose parent institutions joined with the Big Eight Athletic Conference to form the Big 12. Current membership stands at eighteen libraries distributed over twelve states:
• University of Arkansas, Fayetteville • Baylor University, Waco • University of Colorado, Boulder • Colorado State University, Fort Collins • Iowa State University, Ames • University of Kansas, Lawrence • Kansas State University, Manhattan • Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, Missouri (adjunct member) • University of Missouri, Columbia • University of Nebraska, Lincoln • University of New Mexico, Albuquerque • University of Oklahoma, Norman • Oklahoma State University, Stillwater • Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
• University of Texas at Austin • Texas A&M University, College Station • Texas Tech University, Lubbock • University of Wyoming, Laramie
Primarily state and land grant universities with similar missions and academic programs, GMRLC institutions share an interest in cooperative programs. In 1990 they initiated an OCLC union list (BIGU), which has since foundered due to several sites' inability to support union list maintenance costs in addition to local serials check-in. To encourage cooperative collection development, information on subscriptions to expensive journals and on serials cancellations is shared within the group. Reciprocal interlibrary loan, based on the idea that members are "first recourse" libraries for each other, is a cornerstone of GMRLC. Although reciprocal lending had been in place for decades within the Big Eight, it was first formalized in October 1991. At that same time statistics on lending within the group began to be collected. Recognizing effective delivery of materials as a key to resource sharing, the deans and directors promoted ARIEL for transmission of articles as soon as this new technology became available, and also began discussing the possibility of establishing an interstate courier service to expedite delivery of returnable materials.
