The Brown University Library became a member of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) effective January 1, 1996. Brown is the 16 th member of the BLC, and the first outside Massachusetts.

The Boston Library Consortium was founded in 1970. Its other members are Boston College, the Boston Public Library, Boston University, Brandeis University, the Marine Biology Library/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, MIT, Northeastern University, the State Library of Massachusetts, Tufts University, UMass Amherst, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Boston, UMass Lowell, the UMass Medical Center, and Wellesley College. According to statistics from 1994, prior to Brown's joining, the Consortium libraries among themselves owned 20,400,000 volumes, over 138,000 current serial titles, and had combined materials budgets in excess of $34 million. Member libraries managed more than 51,000 interlibrary loans within the group, out of a total of 170,000 transactions, and distributed 4,650 BLC library cards to faculty and students who wanted to make use of a BLC library other than their own. To this thriving partnership, Brown now brings its own rich collections and staff talents.

Membership in the Boston Library Consortium includes reciprocal access and borrowing privileges for students and faculty, a shared resources program with priority treatment for BLC members, and a variety of cooperative programs addressing collection development and other issues of concern to today's research libraries. Among other things, BLC committees are investigating joint ownership of databases and the possible creation of a shared storage facility. In February 1996, the Consortium implemented a courier service to support efficient delivery of interlibrary loan and other materials to member libraries. One of the Consortium's most valuable resources is an online Union List of Serials, listing some 130,000 unique titles and more than 260,000 holdings. The Union List, into which Brown serial records will eventually be loaded, is a critical tool for effective resource sharing.

Our membership in the Boston Library Consortium vastly extends the resources conveniently available to Brown students and faculty, offers collaborative approaches to common problems, and provides new professional development opportunities for Library staff. In addition to standing committees that address ongoing programs and services, the Consortium also offers a wide variety of tours, seminars, and workshops for staff. The collections held amongst the members are formidable: among the special resources available to the Brown community are an in-depth collection of materials on Jewish history, culture, and religion (Brandeis); a rich linguistics collection (MIT); an extensive women's studies collection (Wellesley); a strong chemistry/polymer science collection (UMass Amherst); the Montgomery Collection of materials on Arctic and Antarctic exploration (Marine Biology Library/Woods Hole); three law libraries (Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern University); and an African documents collection (Boston University).

Congressman "Tip" O'Neill of Massachusetts once said that, "All politics is local," and, when it comes to resource sharing and collection development, experience has taught us that the most effective work is done by strong local or regional consortia. Membership in the Boston Library Consortium gives members of our University community a wider range of materials to support their study and research, and in addition provides a wonderful opportunity for us to work with peer institutions to address the problems and challenges faced by all research libraries today. Micheline Jedry, President of the Boston Library Consortium wrote that, "...the Board of Directors of the Boston Library Consortium has enthusiastically endorsed your request that Brown University be admitted to membership...the BLC is enriched and strengthened by the addition of your institution." In working with BLC representatives over the course of the last several months, it has become clear that the Consortium values Brown's membership not only because of our fine collections, but because of the excellent reputation of our staff. We take pride in being part of this fine organization, and look forward to the new opportunities which membership in the BLC affords us.


Merrily E. Taylor
Joukowsky Family University Librarian