A History of the Farmington PlanIn 1942 an advisory board to the Library of Congress drafted a proposal for a national program of cooperation among research libraries, aimed at acquiring "at least one copy of every book published anywhere in the world, which might conceivably be of interest to a research worker in America." Each participating library would acquire books in its assigned subject areas, catalog them, and send cards to the National Union Catalog. And thus was born the Farmington Plan, which began operation in 1948 under the sponsorship of the Association of Research Libraries. In 1972, nearly a decade after a two-year investigation revealed the project was failing, the plan was abandoned, but the concept of cooperative acquisitions of foreign library materials remains viable under several other programs today. A chance encounter with a long forgotten copy of The Farmington Plan Handbook led Ralph Wagner to investigate the most famous "failed experiment on library cooperation." The result of Wagner's decade of research is the first in-depth study of the plan's shortcomings and achievements. A History of The Farmington Plan is at once a history of the term itself and the numerous connotations attached to it. Includes copious references to archival sources previously unavailable. An informative read for students of library history and for anyone involved in consortium development. Useful as a basis for understanding the growing phenomenon of international cooperation among libraries. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
Mr Justice Story | 7 |
The National Library Collection 18761920 | 15 |
Copyright | |
21 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
acquired acquisitions agents American libraries areas ARL meeting ARL minutes asked assignments Association assumed bibliographies brary cataloging Center central changes classification collection concerning conference considered continued cooperation copy cost coverage covered dealers difficult discussion distribution division Downs duplication East Education Europe European exchange existing Fall Farmington Plan Committee federal felt fields foreign French funding goal Harvard identified important included institutions interest January languages Latin American less Letter librarians Library of Congress limited literature major March materials meeting Metcalf needs noted Office organization original participating libraries percent periodicals plan's possible problem proposal publications published receipts received record regional representatives request research libraries Resources selection serve sources Subcommittee subject responsibility suggested supplied Survey tion titles Union United University Library York
Bibliographic information
| Title | A History of the Farmington Plan G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series |
| Author | Ralph D. Wagner |
| Publisher | Scarecrow Press, 2002 |
| ISBN | 0810842599, 9780810842595 |
| Length | 441 pages |
| Subjects | › History / Reference |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |