ACRL College & Researc Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Ford Grants $6 Million to Continue CLR Programs

The Council on Library Resources in Washington, D.C. has received a three-year $6 million grant from the Ford Foundation, which will enable the council to continue its programs while broadening its base of financial support.

In announcing the grant, which brings to $29 million foundation assistance to the council since 1956, McGeorge Bundy, president of the foundation, said:

“Despite the indispensable services that libraries provide, especially to scholars, there is little understanding of the public policy questions involved in the problems libraries face in handling the influx of new materials, preserving existing collections, and ensuring information services to the public. The Council on Library Resources has played a central leadership role in developing and testing solutions to these problems and in improving relations between American and foreign libraries and archives. Up to now the council has depended on the Foundation for the bulk of its support. This grant marks a new chapter in our eighteen-year relationship. Hereafter the council will increase its efforts to seek financial assistance in support of its programs from a variety of sources, including other foundations. At the same time it will augment its attempts to heighten awareness among institutions and individuals of the need for a more supportive public policy toward libraries in general and research libraries in particular. As these new efforts get under way it is essential that the council’s programs on behalf of libraries be carried on. The Foundation’s grant is intended to ensure that they are.”

Among the council’s accomplishments has been the initiation and support of machine- readable cataloging (MARC), which has set the stage for regional and national automated services to libraries of all kinds. MARC has helped libraries more toward greater standardization of bibliographic data, an essential element in creating national library services and in the transfer of cataloging information among nations. It also makes possible cooperative efforts to build national and international data bases at reasonable cost.

The council is presently supporting a consolidated serials (CONSER) program designed to produce a machine-readable file of records of all journals and periodicals held by libraries in the United States and Canada. A related goal is Universal Bibliographic Control (UBC), a worldwide system for the exchange of standardized bibliographic information on all publications issued in all countries. The council’s financial support of the International Federation of Library Associations has helped create the climate for UBC, and a recent grant is supporting the long-range planning and action programs that such an integrated communications system requires.

Other council programs include mid-career fellowships and internships for librarians, efforts to broaden the role of undergraduate libraries, and the conservation and preservation of collections.