In 1983, the Association of Research Libraries adopted as its third principal objective for a 5-year plan: "to increase the number of member libraries engaged in programs to preserve their collections." ARL efforts to achieve this objective are aimed at helping libraries meet this responsibility locally and these guidelines propose an appropriate minimum preservation effort that each research library should seek to attain. Recognizing that there is an almost infinite set of conditions that could be included in a guideline for minimum preservation efforts, the ARL has focused on five important aspects which should be attainable by its membership: (1) development of a local program statement defining preservation goals and objectives; (2) compilation of a set of statistics documenting the annual preservation activity; (3) development of a coordinated national effort to film or otherwise copy library collections; (4) housing of materials in appropriate environmental conditions; and (5) allocation of a specified minimum budgetary amount for preservation. A Research Library Group statement of minimum preservation obligations for primary collecting responsibility and a brief bibliography of other Office of Management Studies (OMS) sources of information on preservation are included. (THC)