The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

98 The University of California Libraries
money; what is surprising is that many of the Center's members, despite
the size of the membership fees they pay and the pressure on their budgets,
have elected to retain most of their serial subscriptions, even
subscriptions to titles which are little used. With the likelihood
of further economic stringencies in the future, however, the use of
this service is likely to grow, and it may evolve into the national
periodicals center envisaged by ARL.
A further service offered by CRL is related. Members send requests
for photocopies of recent journal articles in the sciences and
social sciences to the Center, and for those it cannot fill the Center
retransmits them automatically to the British Library Lending Division
in Boston Spa, England. From there photocopies are sent via air mail
directly to the requesting library. Through the use of standardized
forms and procedures, as well as modern communications technology,
the efficiency of the service is remarkable, despite the distances
involved. The UC Santa Barbara library, which has made good use of it,
reports that it can often secure photocopies from England through this
service faster than from other California libraries!
For this as well as for several other reasons, the plan recommends
that all UC libraries be members of the Center, and that membership
be secured and budgeted on a systemwide basis. Other advantages
to membership in the Center are discussed in Chapters VIII and X,
since they concern acquisition policies and space problems. At present
only UCLA and UC Santa Barbara are members, but the advantages
of the systemwide membership would make the additional costs (approximately
$82,000 per year) appear to be worthwhile.
At the national level, then, the plan recommends:
1) That the University begin a system of charges for interlibrary
loans to institutions outside the state, in order to avoid
further imbalance in its interlibrary lending activities and to encourage
the development of a national system;
2) That the University join the Center for Research Libraries
on a systemwide basis, in order to make available the resources
of the Center to all faculty and students of the University,
to participate in the various programs of the Center which enhance
the availability of specialized research materials, and to encourage