The New York Public Library and the libraries of Columbia University and New York University have announced the formation of a new collaboration,called the Manhattan Research Library Initiative, or MaRLI. The press release says, in part, that –
MaRLI will enable NYU and Columbia PhD students and faculty, as well as scholars whose work is based at NYPL, to check out materials from all three libraries, a first step to improve access to collections among the three institutions. The model is a departure from NYPL’s historical practice, whereby research materials have not been allowed to circulate.
New York Public Library users unaffiliated with NYU or CU can obtain borrowing privileges by demonstrating that they have exhausted the available resources for their projects and need sustained access to the resources of the three institutions. A research consultation with an NYPL librarian and a completed form are required.
Read the full press release here.