Response 2

Abstract

My responses to the bulleted “provocations” in the area of collaboration are based on my nearly twenty-seven-year involvement in the care and feeding of Slavic, Eurasian, and East European collections, first at the New York Public Library, and since 2008, at Columbia University. During that time, I have witnessed the death of a long-established (and predictable) system of acquisitions from these regions. This was followed by a chaotic period of transition, during which private firms, many rather ephemeral, replaced state institutions and a very short list of official western representatives. I participated in the slow demise of foreign exchange programs—a death of a thousand cuts--and, since the late 1990s, have seen the return to stability, with far more viable commercial options for supply than in the days of the “iron curtain.” I have also had a front row seat on the technological revolution in libraries, with fond and not-so-distant memories of typing claim forms, and the glowing green display of the original RLG Zentec terminals. I have less fond recollections of puzzling over how, and whether, an RLG Conspectus 4 at Harvard compared to a 4 at my home institution. More recently, I have had the opportunity to participate in the great experiment that is 2CUL, and of working closely with my colleagues in BorrowDirect (an expedited ILL network made up of the eight Ivies, M.I.T., and, most recently, the University of Chicago), to strategize ways in which we might best leverage BorrowDirect’s game changing rapid ILL system to serve our client base to an unprecedented depth and breadth.