Suchergebnisse

Adequate area studies programs at institutions of higher education require the availability of books and other resource materials from and about the areas to be studied. Academic libraries traditionally have had responsibility for developing collections of resource materials, but their success in the past has been moderate. Following World War II, li braries have made intensive efforts, both individually and co operatively, to acquire significant materials from all foreign areas, but their collections are still not fully adequate for many areas, particularly the non-Western. A major cause of inadequacy has been insufficient funds, not only for the pur chase of materials, but also to support on-the-scene acquisitions and to hire staff with area and language competence. Federal programs in recent years have provided use of surplus foreign currencies—under Public Law 480, Eighty-third Congress— for major research libraries to acquire library materials in selected countries, and have also provided support under the National Defense Education Act. To develop adequate col lections of resource materials, however, further support is needed, as well as greater co-operative efforts among libraries and area studies groups.

Law libraries, like all other types of liberaries, are undergoing a period of rapid change, as a result of the greatly increased production of printed materials, the adaptation to new technology and the introduction of new media. To meet these challenges successfully requires careful planning. Planning inevitably makes one think of the future; the very word 'plan', which means an organized method according to which something is to be done, is future oriented. However, to appreciate fully the present state of planning for law libraries in Canada, it is helpful first to have some idea of the history of our development. It is a history which indicates that law library service in Canada has been very slow in evolving. This fact, which I had long suspected to be the case, became quite apparent to me when in 1971 I had the occasion to write an article on law libraries in Canada for the Law Library Journal. I will not go into all the historical detail at this time but simply mention the major points.

Integrating Data Resources and Library Resources: The SPIRES Experience