Celebrating 75 Years and Looking Ahead
CRL is a member-led, independent nonprofit representing more than 200 university and research libraries. United by a shared mission, these institutions collaborate to build and steward collections that fill critical gaps, preserve long-term access, and advance research across disciplines.
As we commemorate our 75th anniversary, we recognize this milestone as a pivotal moment—one shaped by decades of collaboration and defined by our steadfast commitment to meeting the evolving needs of our members. With a proud legacy behind us, we look ahead with purpose, continuing to support scholarly inquiry and collective stewardship into the future.
CRL at a Glance
CRL holds over 6 million physical items at our 130,000-square-foot preservation facility in Chicago, and more than 85 million digitized pages on our digital platform. We provide research materials at a low cost to members and continue to develop collections which include materials and archives from all world regions, in 278 languages, guided by CRL members serving on our Global Collections Committees.
CRL makes our resources easy to find
- Our expert catalogers create high-quality records, including for materials in Slavic and select South Asian languages.
- We provide updated records every quarter, with full, customized datasets available for your local system.
- CRL records are indexed in WorldCat and major discovery services, integrating easily into your catalog.
CRL helps members make informed choices
- We provide free, on-demand collection comparison reports—usually within two weeks—to help members strategically manage their holdings.
- Comparison reports assess the overlap with CRL and Linda Hall Library collections and compare your library to WorldCat and CRL members.
- Comparisons are as detailed as the available data, including holdings analysis, to pinpoint specific gaps that members can address to strengthen their collections.
- CRL can help its members plan deduplication in stacks and storage facilities, in their own collections and against CRL holdings, including the JSTOR archive.
CRL supports and strengthens the shared print landscape
- CRL maintains PAPR, the only free registry of shared print serials, now migrating to the TIND platform for better functionality.
- We create tools, like the free CRL Serials Validator, that help libraries clean up and verify serials metadata.
- We lead international shared print efforts and function as a convener through forums like PAN and the PAN listserv, and major events like @Risk.
- We partner with California Digital Library and HathiTrust to promote deeper collaboration and shared infrastructure.
CRL helps libraries improve the quality and coverage of their metadata
- CRL is leading an initiative to reduce duplicate JSTOR records in WorldCat, ensuring more accurate and efficient metadata.
- We assign ISSNs to serials that lack them, improving discoverability.
- We provide custom metadata support on request, such as assisting a member with a retrospective conversion of 95,000 records missing OCLC numbers.
- We are also exploring a collective cataloging initiative to help members address backlogs, especially for materials that require language or subject expertise.
