On behalf of the CRL Board of Directors, we write with an update on the current initiative to strengthen CRL’s global programs.   

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is delighted to announce that Kevin Merriman, currently Director of Collection Management, Technical and Access Services, and Technology at the Marx Science and Social Science Library at Yale University, will join CRL in January 2024 as the Director of Global Collections. In this new senior leadership position, Merriman will work with the CRL Board of Directors, staff, and broad CRL community to renew and reinvigorate CRL's global collections activities. 

CRL is pleased to announce the following leadership for the new NERL Steering Committee and the NERL Program Council. The NERL community came together in 2022 to finalize its operational and governance structure as a cooperative program under the CRL organizational umbrella. Charges for the NERL Steering Committee and Program Council were developed by the NERL community and approved by the CRL Board in July 2023. The CRL Nominating Committee issued an open call this summer to secure initial leadership appointments to establish the NERL Steering Committee. 

In 2023, the CRL community has convened to weave together CRL's global collections activities into a holistic program that leverages CRL's unique scale to build community-stewarded global collections in service to CRL members and the research enterprise they support. More information on this initiative and its timeline and deliverables can be found here. 

TRAIL (Technical Report Archive & Image Library) has released its Summer 2023 Newsletter.

After receiving a strong response to the 2023 call for service, the CRL Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the following appointments to CRL committees. The Nominating Committee, in consultation with appointed group leaders, determined the new appointments with terms beginning in August. Many thanks to the 2022-23 Nominating Committee for their service: Adriene Lim (chair), University of Maryland; Janet Bishop, The Claremont Colleges Library; Diane Bruxvoort, University of North Texas; and Scott Walter, San Diego State University.

NERL seeks two senior leaders to serve as chair and vice chair on the new NERL Steering Committee. Senior leaders (deans, associate deans, AULs, or equivalent) from the core 30 NERL member libraries are eligible to serve. Nominations of colleagues and self-nominations are welcome. 

In 2023, the CRL community is convening, in consultation with the Educopia Institute, to weave CRL's global collections activities together into a holistic strategy that leverages CRL's unique community, scale, and infrastructure to build community-stewarded global collections in service to research, and scholarship. More information on this initiative and its timeline and deliverables can be found here. 

The Center for Research Libraries is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries collectively building, stewarding, and sharing a wealth of resource materials from all world regions to support inspired research and teaching. As a cooperative venture, CRL’s strategy, operations, partnerships, and projects are guided by the members of our community serving in the CRL governance structure.

KBR, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique