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Discusses the financial difficulties facing libraries when they try to acquire special collections. Variety of formats in which information is available; Need for libraries to acquire originals; Formation of cooperative relationships by educational research centers and the Newberry Joint Acquisition Program at the Newberry Library in Chicago; Joint acquisition and ownership contracts worked out by the University of Illinois and Newberry Libraries.

The author reports that the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) is starting a new program to allow libraries to combine the cooperative power with other OCLC members. This is possible through the ability to customize the library website www.WorldCat.org. This system will allow libraries to search the website and have the results be presented by what the program believes would be the most accessible by the library patron, such as material available at the home library, collections shared in a consortium and also open access collections.

This article presents a next generation library interface from ExLibris called Primo. Its discovery and delivery platform is tagged "Find It, Get It," and allows quick access to a library's print and electronic content. Primo also provides the expanded scope of federated search options and retrieval of remote databases and e-journals. ExLibris has multinational development partners in Primo including the Royal Library in Denmark, a consortium of libraries in Germany and several institutions including Boston College's Center for Library Automation. The distinctive concept of Primo is combining discovery and delivery efficiencies from both local and remote resources.