At a time when information about India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the other nations of South Asia is more critical than ever, the ability of North American research universities to acquire documentation from the region has been hampered by dwindling resources and a scarcity of expertise. Circumstances therefore call for cooperation.

This issue focuses on recent cooperative efforts to identify and preserve important source materials for research on South Asia. Mary Rader and James Simon discuss recent efforts by the Library of Congress and U.S. academic libraries to more effectively align collecting activities to cope with the publishing explosion in the region in the midst of library budget reductions. Aruna Magier and Judy Alspach report on preserving ten years (1921–1931) of the Indian financial newspaper Capital, highlighting the work of the South Asia Materials Project, an area studies programs working under the CRL umbrella. Finally, a guide to CRL holdings of census and statistical reports identifies materials that afford researchers a longitudinal perspective on economic growth during a period when development raced ahead in the region.