Centre for Research Libraries Collections

Center for Research Libraries

What is the Center for Research Libraries?

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is a non-profit consortium of colleges, universities and libraries that aims at acquiring and making available important but relatively rarely used materials in support of teaching and research. Some examples include: Underground Newspaper Collection, South African Political Ephemera (1964-1990), ACLU Archives (1912-1950), British Trials (1660-1900), Italian Books before 1601. CRL is governed by the major research libraries of North America and is funded by fees, grants and contributions. Its outstanding collections include over four million newspapers, journals, dissertations, archives, government publications and other traditional and digital resources. Because the University Libraries have membership in CRL, the University of Connecticut students, faculty, and staff may borrow these collections through Interlibrary Loan.

Collection Highlights

CRL promotes collection and preservation of hard to find research materials in print, microform and electronic formats. Here are the collection highlights:

	*Digital Collections* Includes: Chinese pamphlets: Political communication and mass education in the early period of the People's Republic of China Slavery and Manumission Manuscripts of Timbuktu Pamphlets and Periodicals of the French Revolution of 1848 Digital South Asia Library (DSAL) African Language Materials (ALMA) E-books Archive Mapping Mediterranean Lands		*Scholarly Journals Program* Scholarly journals rarely held by North American Libraries Emphasis is on Asian and Eastern European science and technology titles. Search current science serials database
	Foreign Newspapers Largest circulating collection of foreign newspapers in North America Extensive runs of more than 6,000 foreign newspaper titles going back to 1700s Current subscriptions to over 300 papers from 93 countries Search foreign newspapers database		Foreign Dissertations Over 800,000 doctoral dissertations from institutions outside of United States and Canada A demand purchase program allowing member institutions to request for titles that are not currently held by CRL For comprehensive research, search both the foreign dissertations database and the CRL Catalog
	Foreign Documents Government documents from more than 100 countries. Social and economic development plans from over 150 countries (1950 to date) European historical statistical serials Foreign Official Gazettes		U.S. and Ethnic Newspapers U.S. Ethnic Newspaper database includes over 2,000 titles of newspapers published by various ethnic groups in North America U.S. general circulation newspapers, at least one from each state searchable through CRL’s catalog Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Papers database provides access to newspapers and newsletters published by its members (1934 – 1942)
	Area Studies Project Research materials including government documents, serials, and newspapers from six regions of the world: Africa Slavic and Eastern Europe Latin America Middle East South Asia Southeast Asia Browse Topic Guides to learn more		Other Major Collections Including: Pre-1951 publications from U. S. States and their agencies Major microform sets in literature, art, theater, music and other fields College and University Catalogs from U.S. and other countries from 1820s to present

Searching for CRL Materials

The best place to start your research is the CRL Quick Search page that provides links to the CRL Catalog as well as specialized databases such as the foreign doctoral dissertations database, foreign newspapers database and U.S. ethnic newspapers database. You can also browse the CRL topic guides to find out more about collections available to you. CRL materials can also be searched using WorldCat, the online catalog that covers holdings of libraries worldwide.

Obtaining Materials from CRL

To request CRL materials, fill out an Interlibrary Loan request form. Items identified through WorldCat can be requested directly from that database by clicking on interlibrary loan button