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Networking Information Resources For Latin American Studies
Darlene Waller
Curator, Hispanic History & Culture Collections
Thirty research libraries across the nation, including the Homer Babbidge Library, are participating in a demonstration pilot project called "Enhancing Scholarly Access to Latin Americanist Research Resources." Sponsored by the Association of American Universities and the Association of Research Libraries, and funded by the Mellon Foundation, the project aims to address the sharp reduction in foreign acquisitions by U.S. libraries due to shrinking budgets. It is exploring the possibility of establishing a distributed network-based system of cooperative acquisitions and document delivery in support of Latin American Studies. Begun in September 1994 and concluding in August 1996, the program focuses on three types of publications from Mexico and Argentina as it addresses both the promise of new approaches and the practicalities of implementation: serials, government documents, and publications of non-governmental organizations.
Each participating library has agreed to maintain current subscriptions to five serials for both project countries and promptly to provide tables of contents for scanning into the University of Texas (Austin) Latin American Network Information Center (UT-LANIC) information server, thus creating a current awareness database for these journals. Each library will provide timely document delivery of requested articles for assigned serials and, in turn, is guaranteed to receive comparable service from other participants.
In addition, for both project countries, each participating library will acquire the publications of two non-governmental organizations concerned with the environment, gender, indigenous groups, and economic transformation; and will furnish priority cataloging for the publications and provide timely interlibrary loan of requested publications. In regard to government publications, the project is focusing on the digitization of Mexican and Argentine presidential messages. This complements a similar digitization project, which focuses on Brazil and which is sponsored by the Council on Research Libraries. Documents will be digitized at the Library of Congress and made available in full-text on the UT-LANIC server.
The Library's participation in this project will allow quick and easy access to approximately 300 Latin American journals and to 120 Mexican and Argentine non-governmental publications not owned by the Library. This project aims to create a prototype for comprehensive and fully interconnected collections for Latin American Studies, as well as a model for other scholarly fields. If the pilot is successful, the project will be expanded to become a comprehensive program.
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