This issue of FOCUS on Global Resources highlights the three 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 and sociological evidence in research and teaching. Identifying and recognizing innovative uses of primary sources helps us to better understand the paths taken by scholarly inquiry today.

The projects featured here were selected from a very competitive pool of projects nominated by faculty and librarians at CRL institutions. CRL’s Collections and Services Policy Committee reviewed all nominations and identified the top projects in three areas: research, teaching, and access. The projects recognized by this year’s awards illustrate new approaches to the scholarly analysis of social media; integration of archival materials in teaching; and strategies for exposing hidden collections of traditional documents to public view.

We hope that the awards this year and in coming years help the CRL community to promote support of advanced research and teaching.