Middlebury joins the Center for Research Libraries

The library is pleased to announce that Middlebury College has just become a member of the Center For Research Libraries (CRL) (http://www.crl.edu/).  CRL is a partnership of over 240 university, college, and independent research libraries.  The CRL collection includes:

  • the largest collection of circulating newspapers in North America, including international, U.S. colonial titles, U.S. ethnic titles, and Civilian Conservation Corps camp newspapers/newsletters
  • 38,000 foreign journals rarely held in U.S. libraries
  • 800,000 foreign dissertations
  • major microform and paper collections from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and other locations
  • a total collection of almost 5,000,000 rarely held books, journals, pamphlets, newspapers, and primary source materials

Membership in CRL provides Middlebury library patrons with access to the entire CRL collection via InterLibrary Loan (ILL).  Loan periods, and the amount of material that can be borrowed at any time, are considerably more generous than traditional ILL.  Some CRL materials can be digitized on demand and can be provided via e-mail or other electronic delivery.

How do I use CRL?

CRL materials are requested the same way as any other traditional ILL request: through Middlebury’s ILL department: go\ill (on-campus) or go.middlebury.edu\ill (off-campus).   If you know ahead of time that you need to borrow a large quantity of material, or you need to borrow something for an extended period of time, please indicate this clearly in the “Notes” field when you fill in the ILL request form.

You also have the option of searching the CRL catalog directly at: http://catalog.crl.edu/ If you locate something that’s of interest, leave a note in the ILL form indicating that you found the item in the CRL catalog.  This will save time by alerting ILL staff to route these requests directly to CRL.

If you have any questions about this service, please feel free to contact one of our librarians, or contact Terry Simpkins, Director of Research and Collection Services, at 802-443-5045.  If you have questions specifically about ILL matters, you can contact Rachel Manning at 802-443-5498.

We are excited to be able to provide you with access to this extraordinary collection, and hope you find it to be a valuable resource for your teaching and research.

Terry Simpkins

Director of Research & Collection Services