In 2021, Center for Research Libraries (CRL) members voted, via the Purchase Proposal Program, to acquire four new collections representing a broad range of research interests and geographies.

Yearly, through the Purchase Proposal Program, CRL members nominate collections for acquisition which are then evaluated and voted on by membership. Once acquired, the materials are available for use by member libraries and their researchers through interlibrary loan. Member participation in the Purchase Proposal Program is one of the ways the CRL community builds a collective collection, providing access to resources that may otherwise be too costly for individual institutions to obtain.

Items approved for purchase in 2021 included:

• Arabic Manuscripts on Islamic Law from the 12th to 20th centuries
• Materials on Southeast Asian Law from 1850 through 1945
• Karaite Printing from the 16th Century through World War I
• Local gazetteers from the Shaanxi Province from 1080 through 1948

For more information on these collections, see: FY21 Purchase Proposal Items Approved for Acquisition.

Nominations for 2022 are now open — due Friday, April 29. Members may nominate microform and hard-copy collections for purchase by CRL as long as they are not readily available for loan from five or more member libraries, cost $1,000 or more, and either:

• Form a coherent unit, or
• Consist of separate works that are all listed in an existing standard bibliography or fall within an easily definable class, or
• Reproduce a single known collection.

Reference works, original archival material, rare books, and continuing subscriptions are not eligible for purchase under the Program. To submit your nomination for 2022, click here. Please contact Amy Wood (awood@crl.edu), Head of Collections, with any questions.