CRL is an international framework for collection development.  Through CRL knowledgeable individuals at college, university, and independent research libraries in the United States, Canada and Hong Kong work together to identify, preserve, and acquire print and digital collections that support advanced research and teaching. CRL promotes these efforts by maintaining and providing access to extensive shared collections, facilitating cooperative collection development by communities of interest, and providing information to inform library and consortium investments in local collections.  

Programs and Services

Cooperative Resource Development

Extending the range of collection resources available to researchers at CRL libraries.

Collaborative Partnerships

Facilitating collaboration by supplying administrative and technical assistance to member-driven programs.

Collection Decision Resources

Promoting informed investment and acquisition decisions.

Collecting and preservation Areas

The CRL shared collections include over five million newspapers, journals, dissertations, books, archives, government publications, and other traditional and digital resources for advanced research and teaching.  Active collecting emphasizes materials produced outside the United States, especially publications and archives from many developing nations.

Collection Development Policy

CRL collects materials directly through purchase, exchange, and deposit based on established policies and guidelines authorized by CRL’s Board of Directors with the advice and recommendations of the Collections and Services Policy Committee.

Collection development policies and procedures, including a Deposit Policy, are described on relevant pages of this Web site.  Questions regarding the Collection Development Policy should be directed to Mary Wilke.

Global Resources Partnership in Science, Technology and Engineering

In 2012 CRL and the Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology entered into a strategic partnership to preserve and develop historical research collections in the fields of science, technology, and engineering.  Under this partnership LHL is maintaining, archiving and developing designated collections of STE serials and providing document delivery from those holdings to CRL libraries.