Saint Louis University Libraries joined the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)  this week as a full voting member. The CRL is an international consortium of more than 200 university, college and independent research libraries.

Jennifer Nutefall, dean of Libraries and Museums at Saint Louis University, said the Center will benefit SLU faculty, staff and students, as it provides the SLU community with access to the resources of the other consortium members.

“To start, the on-demand digitization and document delivery, as well as the interlibrary loan capabilities, will really benefit our researchers, especially those in the humanities,” Nutefall said.

The Center for Research Libraries leverages the collective resources of more than 200 libraries to identify, acquire, and provide access to critical evidence and documentation for advanced research and teaching. Member institutions gain access to unique primary source materials in various formats.

Members also benefit from access to scholarly resources, cooperative collection building, leadership in preservation efforts, and the overall expertise of CRL libraries.

“CRL is delighted to welcome Saint Louis University into the CRL community,” CRL President Greg Eow said in a press release. “CRL is in a moment of growth – in membership, collections, and services – and we are excited about the ways that CRL and Saint Louis University can partner to build strong, global collections to support the knowledge creation enterprise.” 

Nutefall sees the membership in CRL as a recognition of the quality of work throughout SLU’s libraries. The three St. Louis-based libraries (Pius XII Memorial Library, Medical Center Library and the Vincent C. Immel Law Library) are now part of CRL.

“This really ups our game to be among this group,” Nutefall said. “I am excited to join CRL and look forward to collaborating with our research library colleagues. CRL’s unique and diverse set of resources will expand the ability of our scholars and researchers to meet our mission of research for the greater good.” 

The University Libraries have extensive collections to support teaching, learning, researching, studying and clinical care. 

Nutefall noted SLU’s Vatican Film Library holds more than 40,000 manuscripts from the 4th to the 17th centuries reproduced in microfilm and digital formats from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana and other libraries. 

“It offers rich collections for study in history, literature, religion, philosophy, Canon and civil law, classics, science, medicine and many other subjects,” Nutefall said. “SLU's Rare Books collection has particular strengths in Jesuit and Catholic history, Arctic travel and exploration, and science and medicine. In addition to institutional history, the Archives collections include strengths in St. Louis city planning, zines, historic newspapers, and Catholic parish history.” 

The Center for Research Libraries is based in Chicago and is a member-governed, nonprofit international consortium. CRL’s deep and diverse collections are shaped by specialists at major U.S. and Canadian research universities, who work together to identify and preserve collections and content, to ensure its long-term integrity and accessibility to researchers worldwide.

Member institutions include Amhearst College, the University of California system, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Dayton, Harvard University and the University of Notre Dame.