n. (abbr. RLG)a consortium made up of libraries, archives, museums, and other institutions that maintained a union catalog, published information resources, and undertook research projectsBurke 1983, 300This centralization of resources for the common good is a form of cooperation that libraries have used in the Center for Research Libraries, the OCLC and other network systems, and in certain functions of the Research Library [sic] Group. Archivists are just beginning to recognize, and take advantage of, the centralized co-op; but there is great potential for such efforts if they are carried out properly.Reed-Scott 1984, 26–27One model for a nationwide collection evaluation effort is the Research Libraries Group effort. For the past two years, the members of RLG have undertaken a comprehensive, coordinated collection evaluation project.Samuels 1986, 113, fn. 11RLG is a membership organization with four main programs: a bibliographic utility entitled the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN), shared resources, cooperative collection development, and preservation. In 1980 the RLG members were Columbia, Stanford, Yale, Cornell, and Temple universities, the University of Minnesota, and the New York Public Library.Kaplan, Holden, and Ludwig 1991, 542These listservs are designed to support Research Library [sic] Group’s (RLG) programs and are considered a benefit of membership in the Research Library [sic] Group. Membership is open to any nonprofit institution with an educational, cultural, or scientific mission and includes research libraries, archives, museums, scholarly societies, and funding agencies.Hedstrom 1995, 321, fn. 21The Research Libraries Group (RLG) has provided leadership in developing data bases [sic] of archival and cultural resources, promoting standards for description and preservation, and setting priorities for improved access to research resources.Hensen et al. 2011, 7–8The Research Libraries Group (RLG), which some only know as the component of OCLC it is now, really thrust the archival community forward into the actual implementation of MARC AMC and the standardized descriptive practice that its use really demanded. When the MARC AMC format was introduced, RLG saw it as an important opportunity to add archives and manuscripts materials to its online catalog, the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN), which serves the academic community and many universities with significant holdings of manuscripts and special collections.
Notes
First organized in 1974, the Research Libraries Group merged with OCLC in 2006. The consortium was originally based primarily in the United States but grew to become an international organization.
