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Stanford Withdraws Its ARL Membership

Stanford University Library became the first major academic institution to rescind its membership in the Association of Research Libraries, an organization it helped found in 1932. In a statement released January 29, the university stated that University Librarian Michael A. Keller made the decision during an annual budget review.

“The bottom line is that we no longer saw a return on Stanford’s continued investment of dues, of reporting effort, or of staff engagement in ARL,” Keller announced. “ARL is not serving the needs of this institution or of the community of research institutions as we understand them.” A member for more than 70 years, Stanford, like other ARL institutions, pays annual dues of just under $20,000.

ARL Executive Director Duane Webster told American Libraries that he was disappointed in Keller’s decision, “but at the same time Stanford has not been actively involved with the association in over seven years.” He expressed hope that the library would rejoin in the future, and “we’d very much like to have their contribution because they a vital part of the university library scene.”

Webster added that ARL was continually surveying its members on its agenda and “continues to have strong support in the areas of information policy, federal legislation, intellectual property issues, scholarly communications, and performance measures.”

Posted January 30, 2004.

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