This issue of Focus reports on the outcomes of “The Global Dimensions of Scholarship and Research Libraries: A Forum on the Future,” held at Duke University in December 2012. The event brought together librarians, faculty, university administrators, and representatives of scholarly societies and associations to explore the perceived problem of decreasing acquisition of foreign language materials by US research libraries and the potential impact on scholarship, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, in light of the trend toward “globalization” at US universities.

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and co-sponsored by Duke University Libraries and CRL, the forum identified some new challenges libraries face in supporting international studies and research agendas at the post-secondary level, particularly at a time when federal support for higher education is declining. The Forum produced a set of recommendations for action, urging libraries to aggressively expand digital access to international information resources and broaden library services and cooperation in these areas. In turn, those recommendations provided the basis for a “prospective action agenda” for research libraries.

Area and international studies have always been at the heart of CRL’s identity. The Global Dimensions action agenda lays out an ambitious new course that will inform development of CRL collections and resources for years to come.