[2] RLG was established in part due to dissatisfaction among research institutions with the record-keeping of the OCLC library consortium.
[2][3] This system evolved into the online database RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network),[2] which notably included bibliographic data representing JACKPHY (non-Roman) scripts.
RLIN was generally used only by library specialists; in 1993 RLG developed Eureka as an interface for non-librarians.
[2] In the meantime its membership had expanded to include other research libraries in the U.S., and by 1989 reached 100 members.
An RLG staff of reduced size was relocated from Mountain View to San Mateo, California.