Global Resources Programs (1964 - 2025)

In 1949 ten universities entered into a formal agreement to establish the Midwest Inter-Library Corporation (MILC). The purposes of the Center, as stated in its articles of incorporation were, “[t]o establish and maintain an educational, literary, scientific, charitable, and research interlibrary center; to provide and promote cooperative, auxiliary services for one or more non-profit educational, charitable and scientific institutions; to establish, conduct and maintain a place or places for the deposit, storage, care, delivery and exchange of books… and other articles containing written, printed, or recorded matter…”

Initially the Center’s primary activity was processing deposits from member universities and subscribing to U.S. and foreign newspaper titles which were not being acquired by the members. In 1952, the Center expanded cooperative acquisitions to include selected government documents, and shortly thereafter added subscriptions to serials with infrequent use across the membership, permitting the members to cancel their redundant local subscriptions.

During the 1950s, library technology leveraged the use of microfilm to copy and preserve materials that were rare and endangered, engendering the microfilm projects at the Center. Conversations beginning in 1955 eventually led to the formal establishment of the Cooperative Africana Microform Project (CAMP) in 1964. Over the following several years, other areas of the world found local representation in the Latin American Microfilm Project (LAMP), the Middle East Microfilm Project (MEMP), the Slavic and East European Microfilm Project (SEEMP), the South Asian Microfilm Project (SAMP), and the Southeast Asia Microfilm Project (SEAM). This webpage includes histories of the AMPs and other projects hosted by CRL, including several gathered under the umbrella of the Global Resources Network of GRN. 

Beginning in 2023, a two-year strategic reimagining entitled Strengthening Global Collections at CRL led to a significant restructuring of work around collecting and, in 2025, the Global Collections Committees (GCC) were launched as successors to the Area Material Projects and the Global Resources Network Projects. 

CAMP was founded in 1964 to address the scarcity of African research materials in U.S. libraries. It has preserved newspapers, government records, political ephemera, and oral histories from across the African continent. CAMP has collaborated with institutions in Africa and Europe, working to ensure the preservation of critical historical resources. Many of them are not available elsewhere. Notable projects include partnerships with the National Archives of Senegal and preservation efforts for documents related to African political movements and struggles.

A more detailed history of CAMP can be found here in the Summer 2004 article in FOCUS on CRL: https://digitalcollections.crl.edu/record/530829

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on Africana collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries 

Please click here to be redirected: http://live-crl-www.pantheonsite.io/programs/camp. (this site is scheduled to be sunset July 2025)

CAMP projects can be found at: CAMP projects | Center for Research Libraries

Link to CAMP projects in CRL Catalog: CRL | Search Results 

The CIFNAL project began with a March 2004 resolution of the International Conference “Migrations, Society, Culture, and the Library,” sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries Western European Studies Section (ACRL-WESS) in Paris.  Encouraged by successful models in GRN’s global projects, the Ad Hoc Committee of ACRL-WESS established a working group in June 2004 to address the challenges of increasingly interconnected global cultures and the resultant demand for access to print and electronic French-language resources irrespective of borders. Although interest in all Francophone areas of the world is strong, the group decided to concentrate initially on establishing contacts with partners in France.

The group put forward a set of strategic goals and detailed plans to launch activities in three areas: establish collaborative activities among French and North American libraries; identify French institutional partners; and explore potential sources of funding to support cooperative activities. The Global Resources Network Advisory Committee endorsed the Ad Hoc Committee’s proposal in March 2005.

A steering committee was created in fall 2005 and charged with setting out the agenda and development plan for the project: Sarah Wenzel (chair), Tom Kilton (past chair), Jeffry Larson (French Partners Working Group coordinator), Sarah Sussman (Potential Sources of Funding Working Group coordinator), and Kati Radics (Goals Working Group coordinator).

CIFNAL incorporated at the 2006 meeting of the American Library Association with the approval of a mission statement and bylaws.

Some of CIFNAL’s early activity included the establishment of the Bibliothèque Bleue project, licensing of French-language databases for its members and participation in the August 2008 AIFBD conference in Montreal

Claude Potts of the University of California, Berkeley gave a presentation about CIFNAL's history at the October 2017 event "New Directions for Libraries, Scholars, and Partnerships: an International Symposium". His presentation is available at https://escholarship.org/uc/item/74v8z194 

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees, and the CRL Area Microform Projects and Global Resources Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on Francophone Studies collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries 

Le projet CIFNAL a pour origine une résolution votée lors de la conférence internationale « Migrations, société, culture et bibliothèque » organisée à Paris en mars 2004 par l’Association of College and Research Libraries Western European Studies Section (ACRL-WESS). Encouragé par le succès d’autres projets globaux au sein de GRN, le comité ad hoc d’ACRL-WESS a créé dès juin 2004 un group de travail qui a été chargé de déterminer des stratégies pour faire face aux défis posés par des cultures de plus en plus interconnectées, et répondre à la demande accrue d’accès unifié aux ressources électroniques et imprimées en langue française, par-delà les frontières. Bien qu’un intérêt pour l’ensemble du monde francophone ait été exprimé, le groupe de travail a décidé par consensus de se concentrer dans un premier temps sur l’établissement de contacts avec des partenaires français.

Le groupe de travail a présenté des objectifs stratégiques et un plan détaillé pour encourager des activités dans trois domaines : l’établissement de projets coopératifs entre des bibliothèques françaises et nord-américaines ; identifier des partenaires institutionnels français ; et explorer des sources potentielles de financement pour soutenir les projets coopératifs.

Un comité directeur a été constitué à l’automne 2005 et chargé d’établir un cahier des charges pour le projet. Les personnes suivantes étaient membres du comité : Sarah Wenzel (présidente), Tom Kilton (président sortant), Jeffry Larson (coordination, groupe de travail pour les partenariats français), Sarah Sussman (coordination, groupe de travail pour les sources de financement), Katalin Radics (coordination, groupe de travail pour les objectifs).

CIFNAL a été fondé à la conférence 2006 de l’American Library Association, avec un cahier des charges et des statuts.

A ce jour, CIFNAL a déjà contribué au lancement du projet Bibliothèque bleue, à des négociations de licenses de bases de données en français pour ses membres et a participé à la conférence AIFBD qui s’est tenue à Montréal en août 2008.

En 2025, le CRL a mis en place les Comités des collections mondiales (Global Collections Committees), et les projets de microformes ainsi que les projets du réseau des ressources mondiales ont été intégrés à cette nouvelle structure. Pour les travaux sur les collections en études francophones à partir de 2025, veuillez consulter Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries.

Potts, Claude H. “CIFNAL: A Decade of Collaboration, 2006-2016.” New Directions for Libraries, Scholars, and Partnerships: an International Symposium, 13 October 2017, German National Library - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.  Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/74v8z194

Sarah Sussman,"Les collections francophones en Amérique du Nord,"Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, 2012 - t. 57, n° 6

French North American Resources Partnership submitted to CRL in March 2005.

Thomas D. Kilton, "French American Resources Project", delivered in Paris on March 24, 2004, at the WESS European Conference “Migrations in Society, Culture, and the Library.” Published in “Migrations in Society, Culture, and the Library” (Chicago: ACRL 2005,  275–81).

Launched in 2022, CIFNAL's Engaging Francophone Partners Working Group developed its 'Speaker Series,' designed to connect CIFNAL members and interested parties with vendors, librarians, scholars, and bibliographers in the area of French and Francophone studies. Videos from each talk are available below.

Kathia Ibacache
Access to The Haitian Zombie in Academic Collections
May 31, 2024 - 1-2 EST View Recording

Eva Jurczyk and Daniel Godefroy
Access to Literature by Black Canadians
October 20, 2023Slides | View Recording

Aurélie Gadrat (Amalivre)
Collecting Francophone comic books : illustrated reasons to collect Bande dessinées
March 24, 2023 | Slides

Charlotte Denoël
Preserving and Disseminating Medieval French Manuscript Heritage: Current Research Programs and Future Perspectives at the Biblioth è que national de France
June 10, 2022, | View Recording

Quinn Dombrowski
Corpus Hebdo: Building Infrastructure for Multilingual Digital Humanities
May 20, 2022, | View Recording

Nathan H. Dize
Translating Haiti in the Archives of Predominantly White Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities
April 15, 2022, | View Recording

Jérémie Roche (CAIRN), Julie Therizols (OpenEdition), and Emilie Chouinard (Erudit)
The Future of Electronic Publishing in France and Francophone Canada
March 28, 2022, | View Recording

Darlene Hull (Libros de Barlovento)
Plein de Défis: a Book Vendor's Experience Acquiring Library Materials from Haiti
March 4, 2022, | View Recording

M. Stephanie Chancy
Preserving Cultural and Historical Patrimony: dLOC Partnerships and Collaborations in Haiti
February 25, 2022, | View Recording

Clovis Gladstone
Computational Approaches to Textual Scholarship: the ARTFL Project's French Digital Collections
February 4, 2022, | View Recording

Please click here to be redirected to the old website (available through June 2025) : http://live-crl-www.pantheonsite.io/programs/cifnal

CIFNAL projects can be found at: CIFNAL projects | Center for Research Libraries

Link to French collection in CRL Catalog: CRL | Search Results 

The institutional memory of an organization, including its origins, successes, and challenges, is vital to the examination of its purpose and for its continued usefulness.  It is hoped that the following history will serve this purpose for GNARP.

1. Issues in German Collection Development
2. Origins of the German Demonstration Project and the German Resources Project
3. Activities of the Original Working Groups
4. Current Bylaws and the Reconfiguration of the Working Groups
5. Past Chairs of GNARP and its Working Groups

1. Issues in German Collection Development

The German-North American Resources Partnership (GNARP) is one of the working projects of the Global Resources Network. As with the other projects in the Global Resources Network, GNARP faces unique challenges in acquiring research material for North American libraries. German scholarly production is both prolific and international in significance. In a number of disciplines, such as archeology, biblical studies, ancient history, linguistics, philosophy, and music,a familiarity with the respective German research is considered a prerequisite to mastering the scholarship of these fields. As a nation of critical and demanding readers, Germany publishes more new titles of books annually than the U.S. (even though Germany’s population is less than a third than that of the U.S.). Though the system of German publishing is well-organized, the sheer output of valuable scholarly material creates special demands on North American research libraries that seek to adequately collect the published research emanating from German-speaking countries.

Over the past 20 years, collection development budgets have not been able to keep pace with the growth in German-language scholarship. Compounded with the high inflation rate for German books, as well as a strong German mark in international exchange, North American libraries have been faced with serious cuts in collection levels for German-language materials. Even larger North American research libraries have recognized that systematically collecting German-language materials in various academic disciplines has become virtually impossible, both financially and in terms of administering a comprehensive collection development policy. With the growing effectiveness of interlibrary loan, libraries have de facto come to rely on this means for satisfying patron needs for scholarly material.

2. Origins of the German Demonstration Project and German Resources Project

For these reasons, the Global Resources Network decided to include German-language research materials as one of its areas of focus. Fully embracing the promise of emerging technologies, as well as the need to promote more effective sharing and cooperation among libraries, the goal of the Network is to create interdependent structures in shifting collection development policies. Involving a move from ownership-oriented to access-oriented policies, the intent is to help libraries maximize their long-term investment in German-language scholarship. In shifting the focus to access, libraries can then engage a portion of their resources to provide effective tools for searching and identifying needed materials in a given universe of resources, as well as in developing mechanisms for delivery.

With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, German and North American librarians from participating institutions met in summer 1998 at the Library of Congress to develop goals and long-term plans for the newly named German Resources Project. The meeting inaugurated a one-year effort focused on improving access to research materials among participating libraries, designing German and North American digital collection development agreements, and facilitating document delivery. Dr. Elmar Mittler of the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek helped to direct the project in Germany, hosting a followup meeting at his library in Göttingen in 1999.  The funding from the Mellon Foundation encouraged the development of American and German digital collection development agreements, stimulated improved document delivery, and resulted in a report on the means to improve access to German digital material and Internet publications.

During this period of reorganization, the Project was co-chaired by Sarah Thomas of Cornell University and Winston Tabb of the Library of Congress. Project Coordinator was Roger Brisson of Pennsylvania State University. In addition to facilitating the development of project initiatives, the project coordinator also served as liaison to colleagues in German research libraries who have become strategic partners in the project. In less than a year, more than 35 ARL libraries signed on with the project.  The project enacted bylaws in 2001, and Tom Kilton of Illinois and Lou Pitschmann of Wisconsin were elected co-chairs.  Under their successor, Jeff Garrett of Northwestern, the project adopted a new name, German-North American Resources Partnership, in order to better reflect the idea of mutual benefit that had enspirited the initial meeting in Washington, D.C., and Göttingen.

3. Activities of the Original Working Groups

Departing from the project’s original idea of distributed collection development of print resources, the Collection Development Working Group identified German databases for which it negotiated advantageous license terms for member libraries in North America: xipolis, DigiZeitschriften, and Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft.  In the spirit of parternship, we asked: what is the benefit of these licenses for our German colleagues, aside from the revenue to the German rights holders? The contact partnerships plan arose at Göttingen to answer this challenge.  Attracted by the German system of distributed responsibility for subject collecting, the plan proposed that each German subject specialist be paired with an American counterpart. Each would serve as a contact person for the other, and the American partner would interpret the relatively diffuse and confusing collection landscape in North America for the German one. GNARP conferences in Germany, in Munich and in Frankfurt, featured presentations by contact partners on their collections in South Asian, African, and Jewish Studies.

The other working groups also recorded significant successes.  The Document Delivery Working Group designed a framework for the electronic delivery of articles via the Göttingen library called GBVdirekt.  The delivery of scarce German articles in humanities and social science fields was a remarkable gain for specialized American researchers, but there was also an unexpected demand for articles in the natural sciences.  Differences in the interpretation of copyright law and payments eventually made this system untenable and it had to be shut down.  After awaiting for some years a resolution of legal issues that would enable GBVdirekt to be revived for some years, GNARP decided to suspend this working group in 2007.  Individual libraries are able to provide document delivery services (and interlibrary loan of returnables) on a bilateral basis, for which GNARP is not needed.

The Bibliographic Control Working Group served as a forum for consultation among German and North American catalogers for several years.  The group completed a translation of Anglo-American Cataloging Rules II into German, and also sponsored a dialogue on German and American cataloging cultures at the Frankfurt conference.  After these events, however, we had to conclude that the most important German-American discussions and decisions were taking place in other bodies.  The experience with the Digital Libraries Working Group was similar: it pursued useful German-American discussions about standards for digital libraries, but decisions were being made elsewhere.  Much of the digital library work for German resources in North American libraries was being achieved through GNARP licenses in fact.  Therefore it was decided in 2007 to suspend the Bibliographic Control Working Group and to fold Digital Libraries into the Collection Development Working Group.  The latter has found its work continues to be focused on database licenses, while the role of the contact partnerships has fallen short of expectations.

4. Current Bylaws and the Reconfiguration of the Working Groups

The first bylaws of GNARP, and the new version ratified in 2008 under the Chairmanship of Jim Niessen of Rutgers, provide for flexibility in the creation and suspension of working groups as need arises.  GNARP and the other members of the Global Resources Program now operate under the auspices of the Center for Research Libraries, a membership organization aimed at the sharing of resources.  In order to support administrative overhead by CRL and tie members more closely to the mission of the parent organization, GNARP now collects modest annual dues of its institutional members in North America, but not in Germany.  GNARP has taken the opportunity of attendance at annual librarians’ congresses in Germany (Deutsche Bibliothekartage) to explore potential areas of activity for which GNARP can serve a useful role for our German colleagues.  A new Librarian Exchange Working Group arose in 2008 and presented its new clearinghouse for potential internship hosts in North America at the Bibliothekartag in Erfurt in June 2009.  The GNARP business meeting in Erfurt elicited renewed interest in a proposed working group for American Studies librarians.

5. Past Chairs of GNARP and its Working Groups

GNARP Chair
2015-2016  Brian Vetruba, Washington University
2015           Erika Banski, University of Alberta
2014-2015  Elizabeth Chenault, University of North Carolina
2010-2014  Kizer Walker, Cornell University
2006-2010 James Niessen, Rutgers University
2002-2006 Jeff Garrett, Northwestern University
1999-2002 Louis Pitschmann, University of Alabama

GNARP Vice Chair
2015           Brian Vetruba, Washington University
2014-2015  Erika Banski, University of Alberta
2012-2014  Elizabeth Chenault, University of North Carolina
2010-2012 Thea Lindquist, University of Colorado, Boulder
2008-2010 Dale Askey, Kansas State University
2004-2006 James Niessen, Rutgers University 

GNARP Collection Development Working Group Chair
2014-2016  Heidi Madden, Duke University
2012-2014 Gordon Anderson, University of Minnesota
2008-2012 Kate Brooks, University of Minnesota
2006-2008 Richard Hacken, Brigham Young University
2004-2006 James Niessen, Rutgers University
2003           Barbara Walden, University of Minnesota
2000-2001 Thomas Kilton, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
1999           Michael Olson, Harvard University

GNARP Librarian Exchange Working Group
2013-2017 James Niessen, Rutgers University
2008-2013 Brigitte Doellgast, Goethe-Institut, New York
2008          Jeff Garrett, Northwestern University 

GNARP Digital Libraries Working Group
2006-2008 Sebastian Hierl, Harvard University
2004-2006 Richard Hacken, Brigham Young University
1999-2004 Michael Seadle, Michigan State University 

GNARP Document Delivery Working Group
2002-2006 Lynn Wiley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
1999-2001 Sem Sutter, University of Chicago

GNARP Bibliographic Control Working Group
2006-2008 Charles Croissant, Saint Louis University
2002-2006 Roger Brisson
1999 Karl Fattig, Bowdoin College

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on German Language collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries 

Das institutionelle Gedächtnis einer Organisation, das ihre seine Entstehung, Erfolge, und Herausforderungen aufzeigt, ist grundlegend für die Überprüfung der Ziele und für die Gewährleistung der anhaltenden Relevanz der Organisation. Die nachfolgende Darstellung soll dies für GNARP leisten.

1. Aspekte des deutschen Bestandsaufbaus

Die deutsch-nordamerikanische Bibliotheksgemeinschaft (GNARP) zählt zu den Projekten des Netzwerks Globaler Ressourcen. Wie andere Projekte des Netzwerks Globaler Ressourcen, steht auch die GNARP vor speziellen Herausforderungen bei dem Erwerb von Ressourcen für nordamerikanische Bibliotheken. Deutschsprachige wissenschaftliche Publikationen sind zahlreich und international bedeutsam. In vielen Disziplinen, wie z.B. in der Archäologie, der biblischen Studien, der Altertumswissenschaft, der Linguistik, der Philosophie und der Musik, ist die Kenntnis der deutschen Forschung eine Voraussetzung für die Beherrschung des Fachgebietes. Deutschland, ein Land kritischer und anspruchsvoller Leser, publiziert jährlich mehr neue Titel als die USA, obwohl seine Bevölkerung um zwei Drittel geringer ist als die der Vereinigten Staaten. Das deutsche Verlagswesen ist gut organisiert, aber der Umfang bedeutender wissenschaftlicher Publikationen aus Deutschland stellt eine besondere Herausforderungen für nordamerikanische Bibliotheken dar, welche die Produktion an wissenschaftlichen Publikationen aus den deutschsprachigen Ländern adäquat sammeln wollen.

Bibliotheksetats haben im Laufe der letzten zwanzig Jahren nicht mit dem Wachstum der deutschsprachigen Forschung Schritt halten können. Angesichts steigender Preise für deutsche Bücher und der Stärke der deutschen Währung gegenüber dem US-Dollar, mussten nordamerikanische Bibliotheken das Niveau ihrer Erwerbsquoten für deutschsprachige Büchern und anderen Publikationen stark einschränken. Auch größere nordamerikanische wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken haben erkannt, dass die systematische Erwerbung aller deutschsprachigen Ressourcen in den Geistes- un Sozialwissenschaften, aus finanziellen und administrative Gründen, unmöglich geworden ist. Mit der zunehemenden Effizienz der Fernleihe, inklusive der internationalen Fernleihe, verlassen sich viele Bibliotheken zunehmend auf diese Methode, um ihrem Bedarf an wissenschaftlicher Literatur aus Deutschland nachzukommen.

2. Ursprung des Deutschen Demonstrationsprojektes und des Deutschen Ressourcenprojektes

Aus den oben genannten Gründen entschloß sich das Netzwerkes Gloabler Ressourcen im Jahre 1992, seine Aktivitäten auf deutschsprachigen Ressourcen zu erweitern. Im Bewusstsein der Notwendigkeit einer wirksameren Ressourcenverteilung und Zusammenarbeit zwischen Bibliotheken, ist es das Ziel der Netzwerkes Globaler Ressourcen, u.a. mithilfe der Anwendung von neuen Technologien, interdependente Strukturen zum Bestandsaufbau zu födern und zu gestalten.  Die Umorientierung auf Zugang zu Materialien statt primär auf den Erwerb derselben soll die Investitionen der Bibliotheken in die deutschsprachige Wissenschaft maximieren. Durch diese Umorientierung können die Bibliotheken mehr Mittel für die Finanzierung von effektiven Verfahren zur Ermittlung eines spezifischen Informationsbedarfs und der Entwicklung von innovativen Methoden der Fernleihe und Dokumentenlieferung einsetzen. Die finanzielle Unterstützung der Andrew W. Mellon Stiftung hat im Sommer 1998 ein Treffen von nordamerikanischen und deutschen Bibliothekaren in der Library of Congress ermöglicht, um die Ziele und langfristigen Pläne des neu gegründeten Deutschen Ressourcen Projektes zu erarbeiten. Mit diesem Treffen begann ein einjähriges Projekt zur Verbesserung des Zugangs zu Forschungsmaterialien an den beteiligten Bibliotheken, der Erarbeitung von Vereinbarungen zum Aufbau deutsch-nordamerikanischer digitaler Sammlungen, und der Vereinfachung von Dokumentenlieferungen. Dr. Elmar Mittler von der Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek übernahm die Leitung des Projektes in Deutschland und war Gastgeber der zweiten Zusammenkunft, die 1999 in Göttingen stattfand. Die Finanzierung durch die A.W. Mellon Stiftung setzte den Abschluß von deutsch-nordamerikanischen Verträgen für den Bestandsaufbau in Gang, förderte die Verbesserung der Dokumentenlieferung, und resultierte zudem in einem Bericht über die Möglichkeiten, den Zugang zu deutschen digitalen Materialien und Online-Publikationen zu verbessern.

In dieser Phase der Umorientierung stand das Projekt unter dem gemeinsamen Vorstand von Sarah Thomas von der Cornell University und Winston Tabb von der Library of Congress. Roger Brisson von der Pennsylvania State University fungierte als Koordinator. Neben seiner Aufgabe als Koordinator der Projektentwicklung, übernahm er auch die Rolle der Verbindungsperson zu den Kollegen in den deutschen Bibliotheken, die strategische Partner des Projektes wurden. Innerhalb eines Jahres traten 35 Bibliotheken dem Projekt der ARL (Association of Research Libraries, dem Verband der nordamerikanischen Forschungsbibliotheken) bei. Die Satzung wurden 2001 verabschiedet und Tom Kilton von der Univeristy of Illinois und Lou Pitschmann von der University of Wisconsin teilten gemeinsam den Vorstand. Unter ihrem Nachfolger, Jeff Garrett, von der Northwestern University, erhielt das Projekt seinen neuen Namen, German-North American Resources Partnership (GNARP--der deutsche Name ist offiziell Deutsch-Nordamerikanische Bibliotheksgemeinschaft, DNABG), um das Konzept des beiderseitigen Nutzens widerzuspiegeln, das die Tagungen in Washington, DC und Göttingen initiiert hatte.

3. Tätigkeiten der ursprünglichen Arbeitsgruppen

Nachdem man sich von der ursprünglichen Idee des Projektes, einer Kooperation beim Bestandsaufbau von gedruckten Ressourcen, entfernt hatte, identifizierte die neu geschaffene Arbeitsgruppe für Bestandsaufbau Datenbanken, für die sie im Anschluß Lizenzen für die nordamerikanischen Mitgliedsbibliotheken aushandelte: xipolis, DigiZeitschriften und die Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, sowie die Bibliographie Linguistischer Literatur (BLLDB) konnten somit nordamerikanischen Benutzern zugänglich gemacht werden. Im Geiste der Partnerschaft stellte sich die Frage, welchen Nutzen die Lizenzen den deutschen Partnern bringen könnten -- abgesehen von den urheberrechtlichen Einkünften für die Rechteinhaber. Aus dieser Überlegung entstand die Idee der Kontaktpartnerschaften. Nach dem Vorbild des deutschen Systems der Sondersammelgebiete, d.h., der verteilten Verantwortung für Bestandsaufbau, wurde vorgeschlagen, daß die für die Sondersammelgebiete verantwortlichen deutschen Referenten mit einem entsprechenden amerikanischen Fachreferenten gepaart würden. Beide sollten als Kontaktperson für einander fungieren und die amerikanischen Fachreferenten sollten das relativ diffuse und verwirrende Feld der Sammelschwerpunkte in Nordamerika den deutschen Partnern vermitteln. Nach diesem Modell hat GNARP Konferenzen in Deutschland (in München und Frankfurt/Main) organisiert, wo die jeweiligen Kontaktpartner ihre Sammlungen in den Bereichen der Südasien- und Afrikakunde sowie der Judaistik vorgestellt haben.

Auch die anderen Arbeitsgruppen konnten Erfolge verzeichnen. Die Arbeitsgruppe für Dokumentenlieferung hat einen Rahmenvertrag für die elektronische Lieferung von Zeitschriftenartikeln über die Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen entworfen (GBVdirekt). Die Lieferung von schwer zu beschaffenden deutschen Artikeln in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften war ein bedeutender Gewinn für amerikanische Forscher, aber es zeigte sich auch ein erstaunlicher Bedarf an Artikeln im Bereich der Naturwissenschaften. Unterschiedliche Interpretationen des Urheberrechts und deren Verwertung machten das System schliesslich unhaltbar und es mußte, auf Druck von internationalen Verlagskonzernen, beendet werden. Für einige Jahre bestand die Hoffnung, daß die Probleme gerichtlich geregelt werden können, aber im Jahr 2007 wurde das System und die Arbeitsgruppe aufgehoben. Die transatlantische Fernleihe wird mancherorts gepflegt, aber sie benötigt keine Regelung durch GNARP.

Die Arbeitsgruppe für bibliographische Kontrolle hat über mehrere Jahre als ein Forum der Konsultation zwischen nordamerikanischen und deutschen Bibliothekaren gedient. Die Gruppe hat eine Übersetzung der Anglo-amerikanischen Katalogregeln II ins Deutsche fertiggestellt und eine Besprechung zum Vergleich der deutschen und amerikanischen Katalogisierungsverfahren während der GNARP-Konferenz in Frankfurt organisiert. Es stellte sich aber heraus, dass die wichtigsten deutsch-amerikanischen Gespräche und Entscheidungen im Bereich der Formalerschließung in anderen Gremien, insbesondere IFLA, verliefen. Aus diesem Grund wurde die Arbeitsgruppe suspendiert. Eine ähnliche Feststellung erfolgte für die Arbeitsgruppe für digitale Bibliotheken: obwohl die Gruppe  nützliche Gespräche, wie zum Beispiel über Standards für digitale Biblotheken führen konnte und als Forum zur Informationsvermittlung über den Atlantik diente, werden Entscheidungen über internationale Zusammenarbeit und digitale Entwicklungen anderswo getroffen. Die Arbeitsgruppe für digitale Bibliotheken hat sich hauptsächlich auf die verhandlung von Lizenzen zu deutschen Datenbanken konzentriert, was zu einer Verschmelzung der Arbeitsgruppe mit der Arbeitsgruppe für den Bestandsaufbau geführt hat. Die Arbeitsgruppe für den Bestandsaufbau führt nun diese Tätigkeit, zusammen mit Besprechungen über Drucksachen und anderen Materialien weiter. Die Idee der Kontaktpartnerschaften konnte leider die Erwartung einer größeren Zusammenarbeit über den Atlantik nicht erfüllen.

1. Aspekte des deutschen Bestandsaufbaus
2. Ursprung des Deutschen Demonstrationsprojektes und des Deutschen Ressourcenprojektes
3. Tätigkeiten der ursprünglichen Arbeitsgruppen
4. Die aktuelle Satzung und die Neugestaltung der Arbeitsgruppen

4. Die aktuelle Satzung und die Neugestaltung der Arbeitsgruppen

GNARP’s Satzung räumt der Organisation Flexibilität in der Berufung und Aufhebung von Arbeitsgruppe ein. GNARP, sowie andere Projekte des Netzwerks Globaler Ressourcen, wirken heute unter der Schirmherrschaft des Center for Research Libraries (CRL, Zentrum für Forschungsbibliotheken), einer Organisation von Mitgliedsbibliotheken, die den gemeinsamen Bestandsaufbau und gegenseitigen Zugriff auf Ressourcen zum Ziel hat. Um die Verwaltungskosten von GNARP zu decken und um GNARPs Aktivitäten mit den Zielen der Gesamtorganisation zu koordinieren, leisten nordamerikanische GNARP Mitglieder einen bescheidenen jährlichen Beitrag. Dieser Beitrag fällt für ausländische und insbesondere deutschsprachige Bibliotheken nicht an. GNARP hat wiederholt die Gelegenheit wahrgenommen, durch Teilnahme an den Deutschen Bibliothekartagen potentielle Arbeitsgebiete zu erkunden, bei denen GNARP eine nützliche Rolle für deutsche Fachkollegen spielen könnte. Eine neue Arbeitsgruppe für den bibliothekarischen Fachaustausch entstand 2008. Auf dem Deutschen Bibliothekartag in Erfurt im Juni 2009 wurde eine Webseite vorgestellt, die amerikanische Bibliotheken auflistet, die bereit sind, deutsche Bibliothekspraktikanten zu empfangen. Die öffentliche Arbeitssitzung von GNARP in Erfurt hat erneut Interesse geweckt, eine Arbeitsgruppe für deutsche Fachreferenten der Amerikanistik zu organisieren.

CRL führte die GCC (Global Collection Committees) in 2025 ein. Die Area Microfilm Projects (AMPs) und Global Resource Network (GRNs) wurden in die neue Struktur eingebunden. Für weitere Informtionen und Interesse an der deutschprachigen Zusammenarbeit mit dem Schwerpunkt Bestandsentwicklung ab 2025 folgen Sie bitte diesem Link: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries 

“The World According to GNARP: Prospects for Transatlantic Library Partnership in the Digital Age” conference at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Oct. 5-7, 2006.   German site containing papers and presentations.    

Please click here to be redirected to the old website (through June 2025): http://live-crl-www.pantheonsite.io/programs/gnarp

Links to GNARP projects can be found at: GNARP Projects | Center for Research Libraries

Link to German collection in CRL Catalog: CRL | Search Results

LAMP was developed by a committee of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) in cooperation with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) after several years of careful study and planning with a founding membership of sixteen libraries in 1975. 

For an earlier history of LAMP, see Deal, Carl W.. "The Latin American Microform Project: The First Decade" , vol. 15, no. 1, 1986, pp. 22-27. https://doi.org/10.1515/mfir.1986.15.1.22

For more information, see Treinta Años de LAMP—A Brief Look Back by James Simon in Focus on Global Resources at the Center for Research Libraries, Winter 2004-05 Vol. 24, Num. 2. https://digitalcollections.crl.edu/record/530831

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on Latin American collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries

Thirty-one North American universities formed the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project (LARRP) in 1994 to explore new ways of building Latin American Studies research collections. Due to the steady reduction of acquisition funding and a perceived overreliance on a handful of foreign book dealers, librarians from these universities were concerned that their collections no longer represented the diversity of Latin American cultural and scholarly production.

LARRP has partnered with the Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) since its early years. LANIC still hosts several LARRP projects, including the Presidential Messages. database and the Latin American Open Archives Portal.

To fund LARRP’s long-standing Distributed Resources Project, participating members were asked to voluntarily allocate 7 percent of their annual Latin American Studies funds to acquire materials in a specific country or subject area. By the late 1990s, thirty LARRP institutions raised more than U.S. $300,000 a year for these materials. The project also energized bibliographers at participating institutions to pursue special acquisitions and funding for additional activities.

The initial LARRP projects were funded through the AAU and ARL by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant. Follow-up funding through two Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) grants from the U.S. Department of Education enabled LARRP to redesign and upgrade the LAPTOC database, to expand its membership into Latin America, and to create an Internet portal for full-text resources (see LAOAP). For more information about the LARRP initiative, please see: “The Latin Americanist Research Resources Project: A New Direction for Monographic Cooperation?” by Dan C. Hazen in  ARL Bimonthly Report (191):1-6.

The project instituted an annual fee beginning in 2004 to maintain the database projects once grant funding ends. A matching grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation launched many of the Project’s initiatives. During the period 1999–2002, a $405,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) program supported the development of a Latin American partnerships program and the enhancement of the Project’s database. The University of Texas at Austin General Libraries serves as the lead institution for the TICFIA grant. Under a second U.S. Department of Education TICFIA grant for 2002–05, LARRP received $585,000 to improve access to Latin American grey literature in the social sciences through an Open Archives Portal. The UCLA Library was the lead institution for this project.

In 2006, LARRP moved to its new administrative home at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). 

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on Latin American collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries

Listed below are the subjects and countries that LARRP institutions have agreed to acquire in additional depth.

Argentina

• Arizona State University (Literature, Cinema, Theater, Performance and Art)
• University of California, Los Angeles (Humanities and Social Sciences)
• University of Minnesota
• University of Southern California  (Literature)

Belize

• Tulane University

Bolivia

• Cornell University
• University of Pittsburgh

Brazil

• Columbia University  (Social Science)
• Emory University
• University of Miami
• University of Minnesota
• Ohio State University  (History, Social Sciences, & Literature)

Caribbean

• University of Florida
• Rutgers University  (Theater)

Central America

• Tulane University

Chile

• Princeton University  (Political Science, Domestic Policy Issues, Social Issues, Indigenous Affairs)

Colombia

• Florida International University
• Harvard University  (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Costa Rica

• University of Kansas

Cuba

• University of Miami
• University of Michigan
• Syracuse University  (Literature and Social Sciences)

Dominican Republic

• Columbia University
• Syracuse University  (Literature and Social Sciences)

Ecuador

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

El Salvador

• University of Southern California

Guatemala

• Tulane University
• Vanderbilt University
• Yale University

Mexico

• University of Arizona  (Art)
• Arizona State University  (Literature, Cinema, Theater, Performance and Art)
• Brigham Young University  (Literature)
• University of California, San Diego  (Chiapas, Chihuahua, and Coahuila)
• Harvard University  (Humanities and Social Sciences in Mexico's southern states)
• University of Minnesota
• Syracuse University  (Geography)

Nicaragua

• Yale University

Paraguay

• University of Michigan

Peru

• Cornell University

Puerto Rico

• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Connecticut
• Syracuse University  (Literature and Social Sciences)
• Yale University

Uruguay

• University of Notre Dame  (Humanities and Social Sciences)

Venezuela

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

African Diaspora in Latin America (with the exception of the Caribbean)

• University of Wisconsin-Madison

Architecture

• Columbia University

Art, Architecture, Art History, Photography

• University of New Mexico

Cinema

• University of Southern California

Cinema Studies and Video

• New York University

Ethnohistory, Migration, and Graphic Literature

• University of Pennsylvania

Folklore

• University of Pennsylvania

Indigenous and Popular Literature

• Indiana University

Latin American & Caribbean Labor History

• Duke University

Mesoamerican anthropology and archaeology, especially the Maya, with emphasis on materials from Guatemala and Mexico

• Vanderbilt University

Political Humor and Caricature

• Duke University

Popular Music, emphasizing Cuba & the Caribbean

• Florida International University

Public Health

• University of Pennsylvania

Sound Recordings of Popular & Folk Music (Brazil & Central America)

• University of Pennsylvania

Sports

• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Since its inception in 1987, MEMP acquired more than 100 newspaper titles in Arabic, Turkish, and English, including a large collection of Sudanese and Turkish papers. Other projects include the microfilming of a large pamphlet file of materials on the Middle East at the Library of Congress and the microfilming of the Cosro Chaqeri Collection of Iranian Left-wing Materials. In cooperation with MEMP, Fawzy W. Khoury and Michelle Bates compiled the "Middle East in Microform: a Union List of Middle Eastern Microforms in North American Libraries" (University of Washington Libraries, 1992), a revised and expanded version of "National Union Catalog of Middle Eastern Microforms" (University of Washington Libraries, 1989).

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure and the work of MEMP moved to the West Asian and North African Collections Committee.

For work on West Asian and North African collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries

The South Asia Materials Project, formed in 1967, acquires materials dealing with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and provides a resource for difficult to acquire, expensive, limited-use materials for those participating libraries which support major South Asian teaching and research programs. One of the program's stated purposes at the outset of the project was to film materials of research interest in South Asia which are in immediate danger of disappearing because of local disinterest or inability to find the necessary resources to deal with deteriorating collections. 

for a detailed history, please see "The South Asia Microform Project" by Jack C. Wells in Microform Review, vol. 17, no. 1 (February 1988), pp. 26-31. 

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on South Asian collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries

For a detailed history, please see, "Southeast Asia Microform Project: 35 Years of International Collaboration" by James Simon in FOCUS Volume XXV, Number 1, Fall 2005.

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees. The Area Microform Projects and Global Resource Network Projects were migrated to the new structure. For work on Southeast Asian collections beginning in 2025, please see: Global Collections Committees | Center for Research Libraries

In 1995, CRL received several suggestions regarding the need to coordinate and facilitate the creation of a microform project for Slavic and East European area studies. All of the existing microform projects had formed under the library arm of the respective scholarly associations, and only later sought out CRL to meet storage and administrative needs. SEEMP marked the first time that CRL staff had been present at the creation of this type of project.

A Steering Committee was formed in June 1995 with representatives from several groups already active in cooperative endeavors in this area: June Pachuta Farris (University of Chicago) representing CIC Slavic bibliographers; Michael Biggins (University of Washington) representing several Pacific Coast research libraries; Robert Davis (New York Public Library) representing the East Coast Consortium; and Jared Ingersoll-Casey (Ohio State University) representing ALA’s Slavic Preservation Discussion Group. Marlys Rudeen was CRL’s liaison to the group. The committee served as a forum for discussion on the need for preservation activities in Slavic and East European Studies and how these needs might be met by the formation of a microform project. Would such a cooperative project be advantageous? What should its focus be? Which institutions, if any, are willing to commit to such a project? What kind of structure would work best?

Similar discussions had taken place several years earlier, Gay Dannelly from Ohio State University had drafted a set of possible bylaws. The Steering Committee began by examining them, and also by looking at the bylaws governing several existing microform projects. All the committee members were from institutions that belonged to one or more of the existing projects, so they were already familiar with the basic concepts and operations.

The draft bylaws were broken down into sections to make them a bit more manageable, and circulated by e-mail to the Steering Committee. Comments came back to the CRL liaison, who in turn posted them to other committee members, adding her own observations on how some of the other projects had structured their governance or dealt with issues. In this manner, the bylaws were examined and revised over the summer before being posted more widely to the Slavic listserv in October.

As discussions progressed, agreement on basic purposes and structures emerged. The general mission statement is as follows: “The purpose of The Slavic and East European Microform Project (SEEMP) is to acquire microform copies of unique, scarce, rare, and/or unusually bulky and expensive research material pertaining to the field of Slavic and East European studies; and to preserve deteriorating printed and manuscript materials of scholarly value. Geographically its areas of interest include the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the Baltic States, Mongolia, and the countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union.”

The Steering Committee issued a formal invitation to membership in January 1996, asking institutions for a commitment to join by April 1, 1996. Invoices went out at the beginning of the CRL fiscal year, July 1. Once institutional commitments were received, the bylaws were adopted by a mail ballot. The Steering Committee then solicited nominations for the Executive Committee and elections were held in fall 1996.

The first meeting of SEEMP took place at the 1996 annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in Boston on Nov. 17, 1996.