LIS Notes for Competitive Examinations 25 : Farmington Plan

 The Farmington Plan was developed by American research libraries in order to ensure access to research materials and publications regardless of war or other events around the world. The plan created a cooperative acquisitions program for foreign materials by region and subject. The Farmington Plan was directed from a central office located at the Harvard College Library. This central office was responsible for financial coordination as well as maintaining and collating annual records regarding the plan. The office was initially supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and later by the Harvard College Library. Materials were selected and purchased by Farmington Plan Agents in foreign countries, classified, and shipped to participant libraries. The Farmington Plan's origins stemmed from the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the ensuing lack of access to foreign research materials by American scholars, along with the destruction of many such materials during times of conflict. Between 1939 and 1942 numerous suggestions and plans were put forward on the subject by several prominent American librarians of the time, all of which influenced the form of the plan at its inception.The plan was initiated on October 9, 1942 when an advisory committee met in Farmington, Connecticut to discuss collaborative collection development for preservation and access to foreign materials.At its initial inception, the plan was known as the Proposal for a Division of Responsibility among American Libraries in the Acquisition and Recording of Library Materials and existed as an autonomous entity until it was formally incorporated into the Association of Research Libraries on March 1, 1944.The plan went into decline through the 1960s and was eventually discontinued in 1972.