For the past twenty years university libraries have shown a tendency toward concentration of the holdings of separate institute libraries belonging to the same field of study within one single library. There has also been separation of branch libraries from the main body of the central library particularly in the fields of medicine and natural science. The influence of the new library systems and the growing conviction that a scattered library system is uneconomical and unable to solve the needs of 15,000 to 20,000 students has brought about a new approach to these problems. Librarians and the institutes are convinced that close coordination and continuous cooperation between the central library and the approximately 125 other libraries of the university will become a necessity. In 1968 the 40 members of the Working Committee of the University Libraries of the German Federal Republic recommended that all libraries of a university form a comprehensive system aimed at a purposeful book collection for the university. It also recommended setting up a university library commission to function as a collegiate organ to determine the guidelines for the future coordination and cooperation of the various libraries. (NH)