In response to a May 1983 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) survey, 94 university library members (90% of this category of ARL membership) provided information and documents about current library branches, changes during the last 5 years, and current and planned automation activities. It was found that 63 respondents (68%) considered their library systems centralized, with a main library and/or central processing facilities; that 94 respondents listed 1,008 branches with either centralized systems administering an average of 6.4 branches or decentralized systems administering an average of 12.6 units; and that 58 libraries (65%) reported branch library automation, with most projects involving circulation systems (40) and online catalogs (14). This document presents survey results; policy statements regarding branch libraries from Iowa State University and University of Kentucky; documents on closing or consolidating branches from Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, and Queen's University; documents on establishing new branches from University of Chicago, University of New Mexico, and State University of New York, Albany; and documents on automation from Queen's University and University of Texas, Austin. Also provided are a 7-item bibliography on branch libraries, centralization, and decentralization; a concise summary of related issues and trends; and an evaluation sheet for this ARL Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit. (ESR)