On April 22, 2021, the Center for Research Libraries held its 72nd Annual Meeting. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the meeting was — for the second year in a row — held virtually. Given our community's accomplishments in the face of the unusual and profound adversities of 2020, this years theme — Community — was chosen to honor the work and accomplishments our community has achieved together and to underscore that CRL is first and foremost a community and a critical piece of academy-owned, academy-governed infrastructure. 

In his second report as CRL President, Greg Eow reviewed the priorities and actions taken in the previous year beginning with optimizing CRL's internal culture and expertise. This included filling four key positions: Andrea Duntz, Director of Communications and Membership Engagement; Thomas Padilla, Director of Information Systems and Technology Strategy; Jazmyn Taylor, Resident Archivist for Collections Care; and Samantha Abrams, Collections and Partnerships Coordinator. Eow also spoke about the importance and impact of activating CRL's governance and committee structures and how CRL has adopted an open posture to partnerships. Eow's President's Report concluded with a previews from the year ahead, which included facility planning in the context of strategic directions and shared print, defining NERL and CRL's relationship to advance shared goals, and positioning CRL to advance open scholarship.

Brad Schaffner, CRL Secretary, presented the Secretary's Report and recognized the 17 new members that have joined the CRL community in the last year:

• Bowie State University
• College of Wooster
• Coppin State University
• Frostburg State University
• Loyola / Notre Dame Library (an independent 501(c)(3) organization serving Loyola University Maryland and Notre Dame of Maryland University)
• Morgan State University
• Salisbury University
• San Diego State University
• St. Mary’s College of Maryland
• Towson University
• University of Baltimore
• University of Maryland – Baltimore
• University of Maryland – Baltimore County
• University of Maryland – Center for Environmental Science
• University of Maryland – Eastern Shore
• University of Maryland – Global Campus
• Wesleyan University

Subsequently, the 2020-21 officers elected by the board were announced:

•  Chair, Deborah Jakubs, Duke University
•  Vice-Chair, Adriene Lim, University of Maryland
•  Secretary, Bradley L. Schaffner, Carleton College
•  Treasurer, Denise Stephens, Washington University in St. Louis

And the following candidates were elected for three-year terms on CRL’s Board of Directors:

• Donald Gilstrap, Dean of Libraries, University of Alabama
• Jasmin Lange, Chief Publishing Officer, Brill
• Lorelei Tanji, University Librarian, University of California - Irvine

In the second half of the meeting, David Magier, Collections and Services Policy Committee (CSPC) Chair provided an update on current projects and coming initiatives. This included a brief presentation of the CSPC Member Survey results, presented by Andrea Duntz, Director of Communications and Membership Engagement, and addressed three questions: What does the community expect from CRL? Which services are most important to our community? Is our community satisfied? The update from the CSPC concluded with the introduction of Brian Vivier, Chair of the newly-formed International Collections Content Group (ICCG), a subcommittee of the CSPC. Vivier discussed the aims of the ICCG, it's first priorities, and announced the members:

• Pamela Graham, Columbia University Libraries
• Esmeralda Kale, Northwestern University
• Ksenya Kiebuzinski, University of Toronto
• Jennifer Osorio, University of California, Los Angeles
• Mary Rader, University of Texas at Austin
• Sharon Smith, Arizona State University
• Emilie Songolo, University of Wisconsin
• Laurie N. Taylor, University of Florida
• Lidia Uziel, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Brian Vivier, University of Pennsylvania
• Elizabeth Kirk, CSPC Liaison, Harvard University

Vivier also introduced this year's keynote speaker, Michael Strevens, professor of philosophy and New York University and author of The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science, which sets out to explain how science works so well and why it took so long to get it right. Strevens talk explored, "the highly effective narrow-mindedness of science," and begins a sequence of programming leading up to next year's Annual Meeting theme, Diversity as Knowledge. 

CRL thanks everyone who participated in this year’s Annual Meeting.