ACRL Partners with Bowker to Develop and Publish ``Resources for College Libraries''

Business Wire, June 20, 2005

NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J. -- The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has selected R.R. Bowker as its exclusive publishing partner for "Resources for College Libraries" (RCL), a new database of core titles for academic libraries that will be the successor to the classic reference work, "Books for College Libraries" (BCL), 3rd Edition, published in 1988.

RCL, which is expected to debut as both a Web-based subscription product and a multi-volume print offering in the fall of 2006, will feature a comprehensive core list of more than 50,000 books and electronic resources spanning all undergraduate liberal arts and sciences subject areas. Like its predecessor, RCL will be the product of a massive editorial effort involving a full-time Project Editor, Marcus Elmore, who is overseeing the work of more than 50 subject editors, several hundred bibliographers and 50 referees.

"ACRL is pleased to partner with Bowker to develop a comprehensive, next-generation resource for library collection management decisions," said Mary Ellen Davis, executive director of ACRL. "Bowker's highly regarded bibliographic databases, `Books In Print'(R) and `Global Books In Print'(R), will be of great assistance to our subject editors and bibliographers during the compilation of RCL."

"College librarians have been eagerly awaiting an updated version of `Books for College Libraries', so we are delighted to be working with Bowker on this important project," said Irv Rockwood, editor and publisher of ACRL's Choice magazine, which has overall responsibility for editorial development. "Like BCL, which was also developed at Choice, `Resources for College Libraries' will set the standard for academic library collection assessment. However, it will also take advantage of today's online technology to offer features and capabilities not possible in a print format. Equally important, `Resources for College Libraries' will be regularly updated and revised, ensuring that it remains current."

"This partnership combines the strength of the ACRL's editorial expertise and understanding of libraries' needs with Bowker's industry-leading bibliographic database and global product development experience," said Michael Cairns, president of New Providence-based R.R. Bowker. "We're very excited about this collaboration and expect that `Resources for College Libraries' will become an instant `must-have' database for college and research librarians."

According to Angela D'Agostino, vice president of business development for R.R. Bowker, Bowker will also be making available its new book analysis product, Bowker's Book Analysis System, to college librarians who wish to bundle an analytic tool with the core ACRL database offering.

"Bowker's Book Analysis System enables library professionals to perform quick core and gap analyses of their book collections by subject, eliminating the tedious and manual comparisons that plague most collection development," said D'Agostino. "Our new system offers gap analysis and other reporting tools for college library professionals, nicely complementing the mission-critical content at the heart of the new `Resources for College Libraries' product."

Bowker's Book Analysis System will be unveiled to library professionals at the upcoming American Library Association (ALA) 2005 Annual Conference at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. For more information about Bowker's agreement with ACRL to create "Resources for College Libraries," or to view a demonstration of the new system, please visit Booth 2008 during the ALA Annual Conference on June 25-28, 2005.

About R.R. Bowker

Founded in 1872, R.R. Bowker is North America's leading provider of bibliographic information, and is also the official ISBN agency for the United States and Puerto Rico. Summary statistics for U.S. Book Production is available on BookWire, Bowker's portal to the book trade, at www.BookWire.com. The company's flagship product, "Books In Print"(R), is available on the Internet at www.BooksInPrint.com, on CD-ROM and in hardbound print format. For more information, please visit www.Bowker.com or call 1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372).

About the Association of College & Research Libraries

ACRL, a division of the American Library Association, represents 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic and research libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.

About Choice

Founded in 1964, Choice is a publishing unit of ACRL. The leading academic review journal, Choice is best known for its print and electronic publications, Choice Magazine and ChoiceReviews.online. Each year Choice publishes more than 6,500 concise, critical, expert reviews of new scholarly books and electronic sources in fields that extend across the entire college curriculum.