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The Research Libraries Group (RLG) was a U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
-based library
Library

A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, books, and services, and the structure in which it is housed: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual....
 consortium
Consortium

A consortium is an Professional body of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
 which developed the Eureka
Eureka (OPAC)

Eureka was the user interface for general users of the Research Library Information Network , a bibliographic resource containing records from libraries that were members of Research Libraries Group ....
 interlibrary search engine, the RedLightGreen
RedLightGreen

RedLightGreen was a database of bibliography descriptions on the World Wide Web created by Research Libraries Group. RedLightGreen also allowed users to create citations for works found....
 database
Database

A database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. The structure is achieved by organizing the data according to a database model....
 of bibliographic
Bibliography

Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology ....
 descriptions and ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid

ArchiveGrid is a database containing nearly a million descriptions of archive collections from all over the world. Historical documents, personal papers, manuscripts and family histories are described and cataloged by librarians and archivists....
, a database containing descriptions of archival
Archive

An archive refers to a collection of historical records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept.'Archives' are made up of records which have been accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime....
 collections. RLG was founded by a group of major research libraries
Research library

A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects. A research library will generally include primary sources as well as secondary sources....
 in 1974, two years after OCLC
OCLC

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is a "nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs", according to its ....
, another library consortium, was founded. A major motivation for RLG’s establishment was dissatisfaction among research institutions with OCLC’s record keeping.

The founding libraries were the university libraries of Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and Yale
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and the New York Public Library
New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is one of the leading Public library of the world and is one of the United States's most significant research libraries....
.






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The Research Libraries Group (RLG) was a U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
-based library
Library

A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, books, and services, and the structure in which it is housed: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual....
 consortium
Consortium

A consortium is an Professional body of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
 which developed the Eureka
Eureka (OPAC)

Eureka was the user interface for general users of the Research Library Information Network , a bibliographic resource containing records from libraries that were members of Research Libraries Group ....
 interlibrary search engine, the RedLightGreen
RedLightGreen

RedLightGreen was a database of bibliography descriptions on the World Wide Web created by Research Libraries Group. RedLightGreen also allowed users to create citations for works found....
 database
Database

A database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. The structure is achieved by organizing the data according to a database model....
 of bibliographic
Bibliography

Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology ....
 descriptions and ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid

ArchiveGrid is a database containing nearly a million descriptions of archive collections from all over the world. Historical documents, personal papers, manuscripts and family histories are described and cataloged by librarians and archivists....
, a database containing descriptions of archival
Archive

An archive refers to a collection of historical records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept.'Archives' are made up of records which have been accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime....
 collections. RLG was founded by a group of major research libraries
Research library

A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects. A research library will generally include primary sources as well as secondary sources....
 in 1974, two years after OCLC
OCLC

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is a "nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs", according to its ....
, another library consortium, was founded. A major motivation for RLG’s establishment was dissatisfaction among research institutions with OCLC’s record keeping.

The founding libraries were the university libraries of Columbia
Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York , is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City....
, Harvard
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and Yale
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and the New York Public Library
New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is one of the leading Public library of the world and is one of the United States's most significant research libraries....
. RLG moved its offices to Stanford University
Stanford University

Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private university research university located in Stanford, California, California, United States....
 in 1978 and adopted Stanford Library’s BALLOTS computerized processing system which evolved into the online database, RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network). RLIN was generally only for use by library specialists and in 1993 RLG developed Eureka as a user-friendly interface for use by non-librarians. RLG expanded its membership to other research libraries throughout the U.S. and in 1992 the British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
 became the first non-North American member.

In June 2006, RLG merged with OCLC. Its catalog became part of OCLC's WorldCat
WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of more than 10,000 library which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative....
; its current programs have joined with OCLC Research to become OCLC Programs and Research; and Eureka databases have been migrated to OCLC's FirstSearch service. The office has relocated from Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California

Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains....
 to San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California

San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame, California to the north, Foster City, California to the east, and Belmont, California to the south....
.

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