Take advantage of CRL’s cooperative collection development programs
Significantly relieve local budget pressures by utilizing the range of collection building services available through CRL.
- Demand Purchase Program CRL acquires archives, newspapers, and foreign dissertations in direct response to member faculty requests.
- Purchase Proposal and Shared Purchase Programs Members identify and prioritize by consensus expensive research resources for the shared collection.
- Electronic Resources CRL leverages the collective purchasing power of its members to negotiate favorable terms for member database purchases and subscriptions. CRL’s eDesiderata platform provides independent evaluation of databases of interest and their providers.
Increase discovery of CRL catalog records
Obtain CRL's records at no cost, on a quarterly schedule. Libraries can load all records, just the records for digitized material, or other subsets defined by language, country of publication, or format (such as newspapers). CRL records are also available in WorldCat and the major web scale discovery services. To enable a direct link from the web discovery systems—in order to view a CRL eresource or to request CRL physical items via a local ILL form—libraries must subscribe to the CRL database and adjust local configurations. For more information or a test file of CRL records please contact Yoseline Louisma in CRL's Technical Services Department. More information is available in a recorded CRL webinar on discovery.
Register for CRL webinars, forums, and other programming
Quarterly webinars with updates on current CRL initiatives in digitization, licensing, and shared print efforts are open to library staff and researchers at all member institutions. Recordings of introductory webinars on CRL collections and services are also available, providing a useful resource for orienting staff: See Making the Most of CRL Collections and Accessing CRL Collections.
CRL uses WebEx software for interactive presentations. See details in Accessing CRL Webinars. After each webinar CRL posts the slide presentations on the event web page, and mounts recordings on CRL's YouTube channel.
CRL also hosts virtual and in-person forums annually, addressing the challenges of investing in local collections to support today's changing research practices. These include the annual eDesiderata Forum and Global Resources Collections Forum.
Find links to all programming on CRL’s Events page.
Promote local awareness of CRL resources and services
Orient faculty, students, and library staff to the highlights of CRL collections, post information on how to borrow, and reference CRL’s catalog prominently in your library's web pages and other local information. CRL offers marketing tools—including promotional materials and model practices from member libraries—as well as individual consultations to tailor a message for your stakeholders.
Subscribe to CRL Connect
Keep up to date with the latest CRL news and events delivered straight to your inbox every few weeks. Forward notices to your colleagues about CRL webinars and electronic resources offers, as well as the publication of CRL’s FOCUS on Global Resources newsletter, exploring issues in various areas of subject collecting. Sign up now for CRL Connect.
Visit CRL
Library staff from CRL member institutions are welcome to visit the CRL collections facility when in the Chicago area. A visit and tour can provide valuable insights on CRL collections and services.
Please contact members@crl.edu several days in advance to schedule a tour and for information on transportation options.