Washington Research Library Consortium
Encyclopedia
The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) was founded as a joint initiative of eight members of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area
to coordinate access and increase the scope of resources of each university
's main library
.
To facilitate this, the WRLC endeavors to achieve three goals:
To this end, WRLC has created ALADIN, an electronic database of scholarly journals and periodicals as well as a digitized, collective university library catalog. It also called for the establishment of a Digital Collections production Center, which provides digital conversion services and is funded by the federal National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.
This establishes protocols for development by providing resource-sharing policies and a shared virtual reference.
This was designed to free valuable shelf-space at the member universities for newer or more frequently accessed volumes. The resulting facility consists of 12 rows of 30 feet (9.1 m) high racks containing approximately 9,900 shelves in a controlled and secured building.
Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area
The Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area serves as an intellectual resource for the students and faculty of the member universities in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area....
to coordinate access and increase the scope of resources of each university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
's main library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
.
To facilitate this, the WRLC endeavors to achieve three goals:
- Create a shared digital library system
To this end, WRLC has created ALADIN, an electronic database of scholarly journals and periodicals as well as a digitized, collective university library catalog. It also called for the establishment of a Digital Collections production Center, which provides digital conversion services and is funded by the federal National Leadership Grants for Libraries program.
- Establish cooperative collection development and access
This establishes protocols for development by providing resource-sharing policies and a shared virtual reference.
- Provide off-site storage
This was designed to free valuable shelf-space at the member universities for newer or more frequently accessed volumes. The resulting facility consists of 12 rows of 30 feet (9.1 m) high racks containing approximately 9,900 shelves in a controlled and secured building.
Member Universities
- American UniversityAmerican UniversityAmerican University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
- The Catholic University of AmericaThe Catholic University of AmericaThe Catholic University of America is a private university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops...
- Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet UniversityGallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
- George Mason UniversityGeorge Mason UniversityGeorge Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
- George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington UniversityThe George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
- Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
- Marymount UniversityMarymount UniversityMarymount University is a coeducational, four-year Catholic university that has its main campus located in Arlington, Virginia. Marymount offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in a wide range of disciplines and has a diverse and welcoming academic community with approximately 3,600...
- University of the District of ColumbiaUniversity of the District of ColumbiaThe University of the District of Columbia is a historically black, public university located in Washington, D.C. UDC is one of only a few urban land-grant universities in the country and a member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...