A Texas Digital Library Alliance (TDLAlliance) has been established under the initial aegis of the five Texas members of the Association of Research Libraries and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

The TDLAlliance will serve as an informal forum to bring together the leadership of digital library initiatives in Texas to enhance and promote coordinated, efficient, effective, and user-friendly digital information services for the citizens of the State. A primary goal is to encourage representatives of digital library programs supporting the K-12, higher education, public library, and lifelong learning communities to address common issues in a collaborative fashion.

Formation of the TDLAlliance is jointly announced by the library directors of the five Texas ARL member libraries - Harold Billings (The University of Texas at Austin), E. Dale Cluff (Texas Tech University), Fred Heath (Texas A&M University), Charles Henry (Rice University), Dana Rooks (The University of Houston) -- and by Robert S. Martin, director and librarian of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

The formation of the Alliance follows initial discussions held in Austin in December 1996, at which time representatives of the several learning communities expressed support for such an enterprise.

Additional motivation has followed the statuatory establishment by the 75th Legislature of the TexShare Library Resource Sharing Program within the Texas State Library, with TexShare services expanded from the 53 libraries in the Texas Council of State University Librarians (TCSUL) to more than 160 libraries in health science centers and institutions of higher education in Texas, including community colleges and independent institutions of higher education. TexShare joins other library programs in the Texas State Library supporting public and school library services.

Digital libraries will form a significant component of evolving technology-based academic programs in Texas, and it is anticipated that the TDLAlliance can play a major role in the inter-institutional consortium that House Bill 1, 75th Texas State Legislature, dictates be established to address academic "Technology Programs" in the State. The five Texas ARL libraries, the Texas State Library, and participants in TexShare represent a major presence in digital library services to support learning in Texas.

A temporary secretariat for the Texas Digital Library Alliance has been established in the General Libraries of The University of Texas at Austin. It can be reached at P.O. Box P, Austin, TX 78713-8916, or by e-mail at tdla@lib.utexas.edu.