The University of Virginia Library supports the passage of proposed legislation which authorizes the continuation of the Library of Congress (LC) Cooperative Overseas Acquisitions programs. Over the years these LC programs have provided an efficient and effective means for the acquisitions of materials which are essential to teaching and research at the University of Vriginia.

The University Library acquires materials for the University's undergraduate and graduate programs and research from the three LC offices in the Middle East and South Asia, as well as some materials from the LC programs in Africa and Latin America. For over 30 years, the LC programs have provided materials for the building of a good Middle East collection, a wide-ranging South Asia collection, and a comprehensive religious studies' collection. Partly as a result of this, the Religious Studies Department is ranked one of the best in the nation. Without the LC programs, we would not acquire these materials.

The materials from the LC programs are used not only at the University of Virginia, but by professors and researchers around the Commonwealth, and, through cooperative library programs and interlibrary loan, the nation. Professors from Mary Washington College, Sweet Briar College, and Virginia Tech regularly use these materials. The University of Virginia participates in several national cooperative programs, such as the South Asia Microfilm Project, which largely grew out of the LC programs.

For these reasons, we urge you to support the passage of the proposed legislation to authorize the continuation of the LC programs. In the past they have promoted scholarship in the United States by providing elusive materials in an effective and affordable way, and we hope they will continue to do so.

Sincerely,

Karin Wittenborg
University Librarian