NCIP: Means to an End. Minutes of the Meeting of the Association of Research Libraries (109th, Washington, D.C., October 22-23, 1986).

Presentations on NCIP (North American Collections Inventory Project) program developments and future program directions are combined with business meeting minutes in this report from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The text of remarks presented as part of a panel discussion on the program theme includes: (1) "Development and Use of the RLG (Research Libraries Group) Conspectus" (David H. Stam); (2) "NCIP in the United States" (Robert C. Miller); (3) "NCIP in Canada" (Marianne Scott); (4) "Internal Uses of the RLG Conspectus" (Anthony W. Ferguson); and (5) "The Conspectus: Issues and Questions" (Millicent D. Abell). In addition, brief reports on group discussions of concerns relating to the NCIP are presented by Donald Koepp, Irene B. Hoadley, Charles E. Miller, David Bishop, and Susan Cote. Business meeting coverage includes reports from the President's Task Force on Membership Criteria, the Executive Director, the Office of Management of Studies, and the President. Reports on the following activities are also presented: (1) the ARL Recon (Retrospective Conversion) Project; (2) the ARL Library Index; (3) the Library of Congress DEZ (diethyl gas diffusion) Project; (4) the Library of Congress Cooperative Cataloging Project; and (5) the Council on Library Resources Commission on Preservation and Access. Appendices provide background information on the NCIP; an ARL activities and status report; an OMS (Office of Management Studies) status report; and lists of meeting participants, members of the ARL board, task forces and committees, and member libraries. (KM)