Center for Research Libraries (CRL)

Grinnell students, faculty, and staff have access to the extensive primary source collections of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries.

CRL Resources

• 6,500 international newspapers, many dating to the 1700s — the largest collection of circulating newspapers in North America. Search their international newspapers collection.
• 4,500 U.S. newspapers, many dating to the colonial era, including 2,000 ethnic titles. Search the collection of U.S. ethnic newspapers.
• Foreign journals that are rarely held in U.S. libraries
• More than 800,000 foreign dissertations.
• A rapidly growing collection of over 1 million digital resources. View highlights of the digital collections.
• Area Studies — Major microform and paper collections from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and other world regions. See Collection Highlights and CRL’s Topic Guides for more detail.
• CRL Digital Collections, to support teaching and research at member libraries, scanned by request.

For a broad overview of CRL’s collections, consult their Topic Guides.

Center materials can be obtained for extended loan periods and at no cost by users affiliated with member libraries. Loans can be made for extended periods and without limitation on the format or amount of material borrowed. Arrangements to borrow CRL materials (particularly microforms) are made through Interlibrary Loan or one can have materials digitized on demand. In most cases, print or microform items requested from CRL should arrive within one week and items that can be delivered electronically should arrive within one week as well. In some cases, material will be digitally scanned and offered that way.

Contact query@grinnell.edu or your liaison librarian for additional help on using this resource.