In the ongoIng transItIon from institution-centered collections to a user-centered world of networked information, the role of the research library has changed dramatically. "Rather than focusing on acquiring the products of scholarship," a recent ARL issue brief noted, "the library is now an engaged agent supporting and embedded within the processes of scholarship."1 Successful collection management in this new environment has become a juggling act requiring careful consideration of a number of factors including the proliferation of shared print repositories, the shift to patron-driven acquisitions, the role of digital surrogates in discovery and use, and the importance of redirecting effort from bringing the "outside in" (acquiring local inventory) to pushing the "inside out" (surfacing distinctive collections).2 Accompanying this transformation is a recurring theme in which the role of special collections is increasingly prominent.3 If research libraries are successful in realigning general print collections, and if indeed their focus is now more oriented to building and exposing collections of rare and unique materials and collections of "local" importance-those that support the teaching, learning, and research mission of the institution-then research libraries must assess their existing special collections with the goal of reducing cataloging and processing backlogs, effectively disclosing existing collections, and strategically acquiring new ones.

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