In some ways, a university library is the
only game in town: academic research libraries exist to serve students and faculty. Where else will a faculty member go to obtain an article in ChemAbstracts? Or where else can an undergraduate find more than half a million online images from the Associate Press photo archive? Who else has 6.3 million books, 7 million manuscripts, thousands of scholarly journals, and electronic databases—all to generate new knowledge and teach the next generation of students?