"Research Library Issues" ("RLI") focuses on current and emerging topics that are strategically important to research libraries. The articles explore issues, share information, pose critical questions, and provide examples. This issue includes the following articles: (1) Special Issue on Copyright (Prudence S. Adler); (2) Fair…

This paper examines the means by which the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves historically valuable documents while still making them available to those who initially created them. The paper compares the policies for handling requests for access by donors of material and procedures for accessioned records among the three…

Religious library associations offer practical advice, preserve the literature on microfilm, publish useful books and brochures, and index and digitize key religious journals. The services of six varied library associations are described. A sidebar presents contact information for the six associations. (AEF)

Recognizing that the fast-developing optical storage technologies provide a new dimension in publishing and information storage, retrieval, and distribution, this report examines the technical characteristics and capabilities of video and optical systems and the implications of this technology. The following aspects of optical disk systems are…

The Microfilm Committee of the International Council on Archives grew out of various international meetings which began in 1966 with a congress on "Archives for Scholarship--Encouraging Greater Ease of Access." Meetings since then have resulted in recommendations that (1) archives and records should be fully microfilmed and widely…

The second bulletin of the Microfilm Committee of the International Council on Archives begins with a short history of the origins of the committee. A brief discussion of the committee's 1972 Moscow meeting follows, as does the table of contents of a book on microfilming standards which is being developed by the committee to be published by…

Different kinds of pictorial databases are described with respect to aims, user groups, search possibilities, storage, and distribution. Some specific examples are given for databases used for the following purposes: (1) labor markets for artists; (2) document management; (3) telling a story; (4) preservation (archives and museums); (5) research;…

The Commission on Preservation and Access was established to foster, develop, and support collaboration among libraries and organizations in order to ensure the preservation of published and documentary records and to provide enhanced access to scholarly information. The Council on Library Resources was established to look toward the future on…

In cooperation with the Commission on Preservation and Access, Xerox Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Inc., and the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials, Cornell University (New York) studied and established the effectiveness of digital technology to preserve and make available research library…