This issue of FOCUS on Global Resources highlights the projects selected for recognition in this year’s Center for Research Libraries Primary Source Awards program. CRL created the program in 2009 to promote awareness and use of primary historical evidence in research and teaching. Identifying and recognizing innovative uses of primary sources helps us to better understand the practices and the needs of scholars today.

The projects featured here were selected from a competitive pool nominated by faculty and librarians at CRL institutions. CRL’s Collections and Services Policy Committee, chaired by Dan Hazen of Harvard University, reviewed all submissions and identified the top projects in three areas: access, research, and teaching. The projects recognized this year illustrate a variety of approaches to mining the primary evidence of history.

We hope that the projects described here better enable librarians to support the excellent research and teaching being done throughout the CRL community. Please consider nominating a deserving colleague (or yourself) for the 2015 awards. Submissions are accepted beginning in June; the CRL website has details.