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

184 The University of California Libraries
The estimated number of additional volumes that would be added
by the other segments is indicated in Table 35.
National. Mention has been made elsewhere in this document of
the Center for Research Libraries, and the benefits of membership in
the Center. At present, plans are underway to enlarge the Center's
facilities, so that it can accept books and other materials that member
libraries may wish to store there. Membership in the Center has
already been recommended in the plan for other reasons, but this would
be an additional benefit. If, after ten years in the regional facility
a work has not been called for, it should be considered for storage
at the Center for Research Libraries, where it would remain available
for use if needed. Significant savings in future construction (beyond
the scope of this plan) would result from this strategy without a
significant reduction in the availability of the material, considering
that such material is unlikely to be needed in less than the
Center's normal delivery time of about seven days.
A National Lending Library, such as that envisaged by the
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, might provide
sufficient back-up provisions that some materials in the regional
centers could be discarded, but as noted in the economic analysis this
is likely to cost more money than it would save.
For housing of the library system, then, the major recommendations
of the plan are the establishment of two regional compact
shelving centers as specified, plus subscription to current serials
in microform in lieu of binding. These steps will provide major
savings in cost, and in combination with the other recommendations
of the plan will help meet the goals of the total system in an efficient
and cost-beneficial way.