The Role of the Rare Book Library in Higher Education: An Outsider Surveys the Issue

This article explores the role of the academic rare book library in terms of its financial justification, and concludes that the primary justification lies in its utility as a research library. Experience suggests that haphazard groupings of ''highspots '' do not constitute a proper rare book library and that facilities that cannot maintain research-oriented rare book collections would seroe their institutions better by developing special collections that may or may not include rare books.