CRL's collection of foreign government publications, information, and data is extensive, containing several hundred thousand volumes of publications from more than 100 foreign governments and their agencies. The retrospective collection was built through deposits of original volumes by members, containing rare or infrequently-used materials from the depositing libraries. Holdings are particularly strong for Western Europe and Latin America. This collection is being cataloged on an "as encountered" basis.

The collection consists primarily of administrative, legislative, and statistical materials. The coverage emphasis is the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  A major part of the current foreign documents collection consists of materials received as part of the PL480 program. These are central, state, and provincial documents primarily from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Beginning in 1955, the Center initiated collection of specific types of publications: statistical reports, parliamentary proceedings, and journals in science, technology and agriculture issued by government agencies.