Collections at CRL

CRL was founded as a cooperative interlibrary center for March 1949 when 10 major U.S. universities entered into a formal agreement to establish the Midwest Inter-library Corporation (MILC). 

Early deposits from the members were materials that has outlived their immediate usefulness at their respective campuses but were worth retaining for historical purposes. Hence our earliest strengths were built on college textbooks, catalogues, dissertations, government documents, and publications from scientific and learned societies. Collection building efforts soon included direct subscriptions to U.S. and foreign newspapers, and hundreds of other serial titles, relieving the member libraries from having redundant subscriptions across the membership. 

Over time CRL created and adopted different programs, projects, and initiatives that expanded our collection strengths and methods of collecting. In the 1960's six Area Microform Projects, which were later renamed Areas Materials Projects (AMPs), began collaborating with international organizations to film collections of primary and secondary research materials to create shared stable copies for the members. Each with different origin stories and developmental paths, these were the Cooperative Africana Microform Project (CAMP), Latin American Microfilm Project (LAMP), Middle East Microform Project (MEMP), Slavic and East European Microform Project (SEEMP), South Asia Microform Project (SAMP), and the Southeast Asia Microformat Project (SEAM). See https://www.crl.edu/collaborations/global-resources-programs

The early 2000's ushered in the addition of the Global Resources Network, a collection of new programs to connect U.S. and Canadian libraries with international research institutions. The GRN programs included the Cooperative African Newspaper Project (AFRINUL), German-North American Resources Partnership (GNARP), Latin Americanist Research Resources Project (LARRP), Collaborative Initiative for French Language Collections (CIFNAL), and the Digital South Asia Library (DSAL). Again, these programs came from different sources with unique paths of development. With an emphasis on expanding collection access, their work supported building systems for access, discovery, and delivery between complementary research collections. 

In 2025, CRL implemented the Global Collections Committees (GCC)

Starting with Area Studies committees to continue the historical collections and relationships build by the AMP and GRN programs, the GCC model is flexible and extensible by building out CRL project management support, reinvigorating collection development in print and digital resources, and expanding licensing support. 

This page highlights historical distinctions of the collection, including uncatalogued and partially cataloged collections, and current practices in collection development and maintenance. 

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CRL Key Collections

CRL has several collections of distinction build over time. Our catalog features limiters for the following key collections:

• Conference Proceedings
• Dissertations
• Government Documents
• JSTOR
• Newspapers
• Online Resources
• Serials

Below is a list of other selected highlights.

Law and government information

CRL collects broadly in primary legal and government resources, with an emphasis on serial publications from central governments including legislative, administrative, financial, and statistical reports.

CRL purchases government archives and records through CRL's cooperative collection building programs.  

Foreign Official Gazette Database

An official gazette is the legal newspaper of a country—or a subdivision of a country—that publishes authoritative legal information. It serves as a critical source for:

• New laws and legislation

• Decrees and executive orders

• Regulations and administrative rules

• Treaties and international agreements

• Legal notices and court decisions

The version published in an official gazette is typically:

• The primary source of law in that jurisdiction

• The only official and authoritative version available

• The starting point for legal effect, as publication often triggers enforcement

The Foreign Official Gazette (FOG) database provides access to records for approximately 650 official gazette titles from countries outside the United States.

FOG serves as a union list—a collective index of holdings—representing the major collections housed across North America, including:

• The Center for Research Libraries (CRL)

• Five other major academic and research libraries

Browse Database

Click here to view the more information about the FOG program and database.

Digitized Official Gazettes

In 2014, CRL was awarded a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to preserve and make available on the open web endangered government documentation from ten African and Persian Gulf nations where the integrity of the public record is at risk. CRL worked with partners such as LLMC, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, LA Law Library, New York Public Library, and Princeton University to source content for scanning.

Digitized content is presented via a specialized Digital Collections page (Official Gazettes & Civil Society Documentation), which enables issue-level browsing and text searching within each item.

The Foreign Government Documents Collection includes:

• Several hundred thousand volumes from government agencies in over 100 countries.
• Historical collections with original format government documents and microform collections (purchased or acquired via cooperative programs).

The U.S. State Government Documents Collection includes:

• Over half a million volumes from state government agencies and legislatures (up to 1950).
• Financial reports and research studies.
• This collection excludes: Internal agency newsletters, agricultural station publications, maps, state court reports.

Most of the collection is not cataloged; to identify resources, consult state publications checklists or email CRL’s Access Services. 

Science, technology, and engineering

CRL houses a large collection of science and technology periodicals in many languages, including rare titles not commonly found in North American research libraries. It also offers extensive historical holdings of U.S. and international scientific and technical publications.

You can access this collection through our catalog. After searching keywords or subjects, you can limit by language in the right search refinement panel.

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Archives

CRL has millions of pages of documents, including:

• Major sets from the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), The National Archives of the UK, and other national and intergovernmental bodies.
• Extensive archival sets from federal and state agencies and commissions; nongovernmental organizations; and scholarly and missionary societies.
• Many special collections of archival and primary source material from various world regions (such as the 100,000-plus-page archive of Cambodia's notorious Khmer Rouge regime). 

Search catalog with genre set to "archives" - Click Here

Newspapers

CRL holds more than 19,000 newspaper titles from countries in all world regions, and from every US state, including more than 1,800 U.S. ethnic titles and some of the earliest African American papers. CRL currently subscribes to dozens of international newspapers and to many US ethnic press papers.

CRL microfilms current issues of selected international newspapers on an ongoing basis, in addition to the back files of important newspapers identified through collaborative programs.  

Search catalog with "key collection" set to "newspaper" - Click Here

Serials

Rich historical collections, as well as current subscriptions, to more than 7,000 titles rarely held in North American libraries (in print, microformats, and digital) including the following categories:

• Foreign-language science and technology periodicals
• US trade and industrial journals
• South Asian serials acquired through the Library of Congress South Asia Cooperative Acquisitions Program (SACAP), Pakistan, Iran. Afghanistan (PIACAP), and Southeast Asian serials acquired through the Library of Congress Cooperative Acquisitions Program for Southeast Asia (CAP-SEA).
• Search Catalog with "key collection" set to "serials" - Click Here
• Retrospective print archive of titles digitized through JSTOR.  
  • Search catalog with "key collection" set to "JSTOR" - Click Here

Monographs

CRL holds more than 1,000,000 monographs in all formats. Ongoing acquisitions include:

• Major microform sets in literature, art, theater, music, science, and other fields.
• Unique publications from South and Southeast Asia produced by governmental and nongovernmental organizations in those regions.
• Search our catalog - Click Here

Maps

CRL holds a number of distinctive and intriguing cartographic materials that may be of special interest to researchers.

Browse catalog with genre set to "maps" - Click Here

International doctoral dissertations

CRL acquires hundreds of non-US, non-Canadian doctoral dissertations a year to add to its 800,000+ collection of dissertations. Acquisitions are primarily through the demand purchase program. 

Search the catalog with "key collection" set to "dissertations" - Click Here

Official Gazettes 

Official Gazettes serve as primary sources of law. In many jurisdictions, the act of publishing a law in the gazette signifies its legal enactment. The version published is considered the authoritative text, and often, it is the only official version available.

Our collection includes a wide range of legal materials such as regulations, treaties, legal notices, and court decisions.

Search our catalog - Click Here

The material is primarily uncatalogued, the link below may lead to a PDF guide or index of the material. For questions about specific collections with limited searchability, please email for assistance.

College and University Catalogs

• Materials date from 1820 to 1974
• Includes U.S. college catalogs in their original format.
• Institutions represented include colleges, universities, junior colleges, professional schools, and preparatory schools (19th century inclusive, 20th century selective) including undergraduate, graduate, and professional divisions.
• Additional documents include charters, by-laws, and reports from presidents, chancellors, treasurers, and comptrollers.
• The collection is highly comprehensive, including institutions no longer in existence.
• Some material has been cataloged, but please refer to the linked PDF for a complete list

Primary and Secondary Textbooks

• Publication dates range from the 18th to 20th century (mostly 20th century)
• Includes U.S. primary and secondary schoolbooks and textbooks for non-degree schools.
• Represents all common U.S. primary and secondary school subjects with the strongest holdings in English studies and mathematics with substantial holdings in social sciences, health, science, and foreign languages.
• Covers foreign language grammar and readers up to the college level.

Curriculum Guides

• Publications mostly from the 20th century, with some 19th-century materials.
• K-12 curriculum guides from U.S. state, county, municipal, or district agencies for all subjects.
• Not cataloged but are arranged on the shelf by state, geographic entity within the state, subject, date of publication and title, please email for assistance.

International Central Bank Publications

• Foreign Bank Publications include serials from banks outside the U.S.
• Covers both public and private banks, organized by country.
• Collection maintained through direct subscriptions since 1956.

Reference Books Archive

• Mainly used for special research projects.
• CRL manages the Reference Books Archive Project for preserving physical materials.
• Older reference books contain information not available in electronic sources.

Railroad Collection

• contains hard copy annual reports, timetables, tariffs, and promotional materials of U.S. and foreign railroads.
• bulk of the collection from the post-Civil War period through the 1930s.
• earliest dates of these publications are the 1840s.

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