The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit membership organization of research libraries and archives in major public and private universities, federal government agencies, and large public institutions in the United States and Canada. ARL champions research libraries and archives, develops visionary leaders, and shapes policy for the equitable advancement of knowledge.
ARL member libraries make up a large portion of the academic and research library marketplace, spending approximately $4.5 billion every year on information resources and actively engaging in the development of new models of scholarly communications.Cronenwett, Philip N., Kevin Osborn, and Samuel Allen Streit. 2007. Celebrating Research : Rare and Special Collections from the Membership of the Association of Research Libraries. Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries.
ARL co-founded an affiliate organization, the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), in 1990. CNI is a joint program of ARL and Educause, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology. ARL is also a member of the Library Copyright Alliance, a consortium of major library associations that have joined forces to address copyright issues affecting libraries and their patrons.
History 1932–1962 The Association of Research Libraries held its first meeting in Chicago on December 29, 1932. At that time, its membership included 42 major university and research libraries. This first meeting was primarily organizational. The prepared constitution and bylaws were accepted and each library adopted a constitution that stated, "the object shall be, by cooperative effort, to develop and increase the resources and usefulness of the research collections in American libraries." Donald B. Gilchrist was elected as Executive Secretary. The Advisory Committee members included J. Christian Bay (John Crerar Library), James T. Gerould (Princeton University), Harold L. Leupp (University of California – Berkeley), C. C. Williamson (Columbia University), and Phineas L. Windsor (Illinois University).
The first venture to be undertaken by ARL was a project for the collection of data regarding manuscript collections. This project had little support and was relatively short-lived. However, the second project, the annual listings of the titles of the PhD theses was a significant contribution to the profession. The first volume of Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities was compiled by ARL and was published by H. W. Wilson in 1933. This series of publications would become the predecessor of what is now Dissertation Abstracts. Passed into law in 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act allowed trade associations and industry representatives to draft industrial codes of fair competition. In order to encourage the preservation of these records, ARL published Address List of Local Code Authorities under N.R.A.: 1933-1935 in 1933 which had been prepared by the National Recovery Administration for the Joint Committee on Materials for Research established by the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Research Council. Two new members were added to ARL in 1936; Grosvenor Library (Buffalo) and New York University. The National Archives had expressed interest in joining but rejected the subsequent invitation.
ARL initiated two projects in 1937; publication of the Library of Congress catalog and an investigation into the pricing policy of the Wilson Company. In December 1937, Keyes Metcalf (Harvard University) succeeded Gilchrist as Executive Secretary. Gilchrist continued to edit Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities and serve on the Wilson Pricing Policy Committee. The University of California – Los Angeles joined the ARL in 1937. Louisiana State University joined ARL in 1938. Keyes's term ended in 1940 and he was replaced by Paul N. Rice (New York Public Library).
In a meeting in January 1942, a proposal for the division of acquisition responsibility was presented. Rice formed a Committee on Postwar Competition in Book Purchases. Members of this committee included Archibald MacLeish (Library of Congress), Keyes D. Metcalf, and Robert Downs (future Director of Libraries at the University of Illinois). This program served as a pilot project for the Farmington Plan. As part of the Library of Congress project, the ARL sponsored the publication of A Catalog of Books Represented by L.C. Printed Cards in 1942.
A two-day meeting was held in March 1944 to discuss a multitude of issues. Resulting from the meeting were a number of committees: Committee on Division of Responsibility for the Acquisition and Recording of Research Materials, Committee to Investigate the Wilson Proposal for Publication of LC Catalog Cards in Book Form, Committee on Reprinting the British Museum Catalog, Committee on Securing Complete Files of Foreign Documents in Certain Designated American Libraries, Committee on Standards for Graduate Colleges, Committee on Statistics of Library Holdings, Committee to Study Plans of Cancellation of Library Discards, Joint Committee on Government Documents, and Joint Committee on Cooperative Buying of Chinese Materials. In 1946, Charles E. David (University of Pennsylvania) was elected Executive Secretary.
The Farmington Plan was initiated in January 1948 covering limited to monographs published in France, Sweden, and Switzerland by 52 cooperating libraries. The overhead expenses were paid for by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Also in 1948, ARL Minutes were submitted for publication in College & Research Libraries for the first time.
Robert A. Miller was elected Executive Secretary in December 1951. The Foreign Newspaper Microfilm project was initiated in January 1956. It has 46 subscribers and a first year budget of $14,000. William S. Dix, the 6th Executive Secretary, was elected in 1957. His term lasted only 2 years as he was elected Chairman of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO in 1959. Stephen A. McCarthy was elected in 1960.
On December 5, 1961, the ARL was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. In May 1962, the National Science Foundation approved a 2-year grant of $58,350 towards the establishment of a full-time ARL Secretariat. The June 1962 invitation meeting brought the total number of ARL members to 72. In 1963, ARL assumed responsibility of publishing annual library statistics.
Leadership
Executive Secretaries 1932–1962 +Executive Secretaries 1932-1962 Date(s) Name Affiliation 1932-37 Donald B. Gilchrist University of Rochester 1938-41 Keyes D. Metcalf Harvard University 1942-46 Paul N. Rice New York Public Library 1947-51 Charles W. David University of Pennsylvania 1952-56 Robert A. Miller Indiana University 1957-59 William S. Dix Princeton University 1960-62 Stephen A. McCarthy Cornell University
Executive Directors 1963–present +Executive Directors 1963–presentARL records, 2008–2018. Date(s) Name 1963-67 James E. Skipper 1967 Donald F. Cameron 1968-74 Stephen A. McCarthy 1975-76 John P. McDonald 1977-79 John G. Lorenz 1980-81 Ralph E. McCoy 1981-87 Shirley Echelman 1988-07 Duane E. Webster 2008-12 Charles B. Lowry 2013-2017 Elliott Shore 2018 (Jan.-Mar.) Anne Kenney (interim) 2018-2024 Mary Lee Kennedy 2024– Andrew K. Pace
Presidents 1962–present +Presidents 1962–present Date(s) Name Affiliation 1962-63 William S. Dix Princeton University 1963 Robert Vosper University of California, Los Angeles 1964 Richard H. Logsdon Columbia University 1965 Edward G. Freehafer New York Public Library 1966 Foster E. Mohrhardt National Agricultural Library 1967 Rutherford D. Rogers Stanford University 1968 Andrew J. Eaton Washington University 1969 Douglas W. Bryant Harvard University 1970 Warren J. Haas Columbia University 1971 Thomas R. Buckman Northwestern University 1971-72 John P. McDonald University of Connecticut 1973 William S. Budington John Crerar Library 1974 Ralph H. Hopp University of Minnesota 1975 Richard De Gennaro University of Pennsylvania 1976 Virginia P. Whitney Rutgers University 1977 Edward C. Lathem Dartmouth College 1978 Ray W. Frantz University of Virginia 1979 LeMoyne Anderson Colorado State University 1980 Connie Dunlap Duke University 1981 Jay K. Lucker Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1982 Millicent D. Abell University of California, San Diego 1983 James E. Govan University of North Carolina 1984 Eldred Smith University of Minnesota 1985 Richard J. Talbot University of Massachusetts 1986 Anne Woodsworth University of Pittsburgh 1987 Herbert F. Johnson Emory University 1988 Elaine Sloan Indiana University 1989 Charles E. Miller Florida State University 1990 Martin Runkle University of Chicago 1991 Marilyn D. Sharrow University of California, Davis 1992 Arthur Curley Boston Public Library 1993 Susan Nutter North Carolina State University 1994 John Black University of Guelph 1995 Jerry Campbell Duke University 1996 Nancy Cline Pennsylvania State University 1997 Gloria Werner University of California, Los Angeles 1998 James G. Neal Johns Hopkins University 1999 Betty G. Bengtson University of Washington 2000 Kenneth Frazier University of Wisconsin 2001 Shirley K. Baker Washington University in St. Louis 2002 Paula T. Kaufman University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2003 Fred Heath Texas A&M University 2004 Sarah Thomas Cornell University 2005 Ann J. Wolpert Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2006 Brian E. C. Schottlaender University of California, San Diego 2007 Sherrie Schmidt Arizona State University 2008 Marianne I. Gaunt Rutgers University 2009 Thomas C. Leonard University of California, Berkeley 2010 Brinley Franklin University of Connecticut 2011 Carol A. Mandel New York University 2012 Winston Tabb Johns Hopkins University 2013 Wendy Pradt Lougee University of Minnesota 2014 Carol Pitts Diedrichs Ohio State University 2015 Deborah Jakubs Duke University 2016 Larry Alford University of Toronto 2017 Mary Case University of Illinois at Chicago 2018 Mary Ann Mavrinac University of Rochester 2019 Susan Gibbons Yale University 2020Lorraine HaricombeThe University of Texas at Austin 2021John CulshawThe University of Iowa2022K. Matthew DamesUniversity of Notre Dame 2023Susan Parker University of British Columbia 2024Trevor A. DawesUniversity of Delaware 2025Rhea Ballard-ThrowerUniversity of Illinois Chicago2026Melissa JustUniversity of Southern California
Members The association boasts members in both Canada and the United States. Currently, the following institutions are members of the organization.
Arizona State University Atlanta University Center Auburn University Boston College Boston Public Library Boston University Brigham Young University Brown University Case Western Reserve University Center for Research Libraries Clemson University Colorado State University Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Duke University Emory University Florida State University George Washington University Georgetown University Georgia Tech Harvard University Howard University Indiana University Bloomington Iowa State University Johns Hopkins University Kent State University Library of Congress Louisiana State University McGill University McMaster University Michigan State University Mississippi State University United States National Agricultural Library United States National Library of Medicine New York Public Library New York University North Carolina State University Northwestern University Ohio State University Ohio University Oklahoma State University–Stillwater Pennsylvania State University Princeton University Purdue University Queen's University at Kingston Rice University Rutgers University Simon Fraser University Smithsonian Institution Southern Illinois University Carbondale Stony Brook University Syracuse University Temple University Texas A&M University Texas State University