Pacific Northwest Bibliographic Center records, 1926-1983

The Pacific Northwest Bibliographic Center was formed by the Pacific Northwest Library Association in 1940 and was located in Suzzallo Library on the University of Washington campus. It served libraries in Alaska, Idaho, British Columbia, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Charles W. Smith was the first director. The center began with the arrival of 1.6 million depository cards from the Library of Congress that formed the core of its Union Catalog. In the next 18 months, retrospective holdings from 16 libraries were added and the inter-library loan service became active. In 1943 John Van Male, current director, completed and published a survey entitled "Resources of Pacific Northwest Libraries." The survey enhanced inter-library loan service which became the primary function. In an attempt to broaden its services the Center began a project to establish a program to check the regional catalog for titles that libraries were discarding in order to insure that the last regional copy of a book was retained. Financial considerations eventually caused temporary abandonment of this effort. In 1969, the Executive Council commissioned a study to evaluate the Center's functions and feasibility of its continuing operation. Lura G. Currier conducted the study which proved to be a catalyst revitalizing PNBC and promoting reorganization into a non-profit corporation. Lura Currier served as director until 1977. Also in 1977, Reed College in Portland, Oregon agreed to provide access for PNBC to OCLC's data base, and the University of Washington made its library network terminals available. The Pacific Northwest Bibliographic Center was disbanded in 1982 because its member states and provinces could not continue to pay the cost of running it.