The Southwest academic library consortium

Abstract

On Tuesday, 28 March, 1967, the chief librarians of nine higher institutions met at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, to organize the Southwest Academic Library Consortium. They were greeted by the University of New Mexico Librarian, David Otis Kelley, and a request for 1967 federal funds was discussed. Several months earlier, the Consortium had been inspired and some of its earliest policies suggested by the imagination of Graduate Dean James E. Sublette of Eastern New Mexico University. He recommended specific co-operative projects for consideration and pushed through a joint application for federal funding. His persuasive work with college presidents and chief librarians pushed forward his dream of improving New Mexico and West Texas facilities for library research. Since the 1967 meeting, the rapidly growing Consortium has undertaken many projects successfully, and this is the story ofits progress.1, 2 The Consortium’s general purpose is to promote co-operation among its member institutions. This purpose is carried out through a number of specific projects. Solicitation of funds to support library collection development is foremost among these projects. Since 1967, the Southwest Academic Library Consortium has been working actively to support the book and periodical purchase programs of its member institutions. Sources of funding are the following: (1) U.S. Office of Education Title II consortium grants; (2) annual dues charged to the member institutions; (3) a foundation fund-raising project, just inaugurated; and (4) each institution’s support of its own representative’s travel, work time, and office supplies. The primary Consortium fund-raising project has involved submission of annual proposals to the U.S. Office of Education in order to share in federal funding for library collection support. A total of