The current ARL report summarizes a multi-year effort that captures evidence in the form of narrative profiles as it delivers the message of the value and contributions of research libraries during transformative times. When ARL library directors were interviewed in 2005 and asked to describe a research library in the 21st century, there was general sentiment that the suite of ARL Statistics and the toolkit of services offered through the ARL Statistics and Assessment capability were insufficient in answering this question. There was a call for greater flexibility in describing today's research library in qualitative terms. Textual narrative descriptions of collections, services, collaborative relations, and other programs, as well as physical spaces were deemed necessary if the essence of a research library and the transformation of its collections and services are to be described and evaluated. This report summarizes the themes and contributions that emerged from the narrative descriptions submitted by ARL libraries. The Statistics and Assessment Committee discussed these themes and considered how to use them to shape the committee's future work and accelerate ARL's Statistics and Assessment work as indicated in the 2010-2012 ARL Strategic Plan. (Contains 8 endnotes) [This report was written with contributions from Jennifer Rutner, Michael Maciel, David Green, Sarah Lippincott, Yolanda Glass and Nicholas Woolf.]