The Center for Research Libraries will purchase ten valuable microform sets through this year’s Purchase Proposal Program, with a list price value of $172,674. These sets will soon be available through interlibrary loan at CRL.

Many major microform sets and collections can be too costly for individual institutions, and are not readily available through interlibrary loan. Through the Purchase Proposal Program, CRL libraries nominate microform and hard copy collections for CRL purchase. This cooperative purchase program is one of the most valuable benefits of a CRL membership.

CRL members nominated and voted for the following sets in the 2010 program (a pdf version of this list is also available):

Arabic Manuscripts in the British Library–Hadith Kalam

• IDC - Brill
• 7,060 fiche 2,382 titles, $40,101
• The Hadith section includes the collections of traditions with commentaries. The Kalam section includes copies of many works by Abu Hanifah, al-Birkawi, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Babawayh al-Qummi, Ibn Kamal Pasha, Ibn Sina, Ibn Zarruq al-Burnusi, al-Mansur bi-Allah, al-Rassi, al-Sanusi, and others.

Bild Zeitung (Hamburg) June 1960–Dec 1998

• Bludeau Partners International LLC (vendor)
• 186 reels, $21,800
• This German publication is the best-selling newspaper in Europe and has the sixth-largest circulation worldwide. The broadsheet was modeled after the British tabloid the Daily Mirror—reflected in its mix of celebrity gossip, crime stories, and political analysis—and is an essential part of Germany’s cultural landscape.

Church Missionary Society Archive. Section VII:
General Secretary’s Papers Part 1: Papers Relating to Africa 1847–1950

• Adam Matthew Publications
• 18 reels, $3,600

Church Missionary Society Archive. Section VII:
General Secretary’s Papers Part 2: Papers Relating to Africa 1873–1949

• Adam Matthew Publications
• 22 reels, $4,400
• These records, primarily correspondence with overseas missions in Africa, are an important source for understanding the policy decisions underlying CMS activities abroad. They also comprise a crucial record of the formation of churches and dioceses and the appointment of bishops overseas.

Fukkoku manga shirizu

• Shogakukan Creative INC
• 123 vols. in series, $3,120
• This manga collection offers facsimile reprints of all the influential manga titles of postwar Japan. The collection includes works by some of the best-known manga artists, such as Shirato Sanpei, Tezuka Osamu, and Mizuki Shigeru. The collection also includes the manga anthologies central to the artistic and social debates around comic art in the mid-twentieth century.

Imperial Russia’s Illustrated Press

• IDC - Brill
• 580 microfiches 5 titles, $8,648
• These illustrated weeklies chronicle Russian life and culture from the years of great literary output by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy to the modernist era and the chaos of 1917. The Press documents the transformation of Russia’s great cities—its landscapes and its multi-national citizenry—together with literary life, and provides a visual and verbal chronicle of occasions and events.

Indian Public Opinion and Panjab Times 1870–77

• British Library
• 60 reels, $8,400
• CRL has the previous title (Lahore Chronicle 1850–68) and the later title (Civil Military Gazette 1929–32) of this primary source material for the study of Indian history. This purchase will make CRL’s holding complete.

Muslims in Russia 1881–1918

• IDC - BRILL
• 30 fiches 49 reels 11 titles, $9,701
• This collection introduces the uniquely varied but not widely understood Russian Muslim population during one of the most dynamic periods of the empire's history. It contains materials published in Russia both at the center and on the periphery, and reflect the life of Muslims in the Russian Empire as well as their public and political figures.

The Sacramento Bee May 1939–49

• ProQuest
• 154 reels; $55,259
• The longest-running newspaper in Sacramento’s history is known for its support of workers’ rights and conservation. CRL has the variant preceding titles back to 1865.

Shi shi Xin Bao (The China Times [Shanghai]) 1908–49

• National Library of China
• 241 reels, $17,645
• This primary source published in Shanghai covers a critical era in modern Chinese history, including the 1911 Revolution, the birth of the first republican government, and the growing Communist Movement, which led to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Total List Price: $172,674

Licensing

On this last ballot, we asked respondents to rate their interest in four large databases. Our purpose was to gauge the general level of interest in licensing or acquiring those databases on a cooperative basis. Due to the positive response, CRL will now explore licensing possibilities with NorthEast Research Libraries, and will report further on this topic after our discussions.  

For more information, please visit the Purchase Proposal Program page or contact Mary Wilke, Member Liaison and Outreach Services Director, at: mwilke@crl.edu