CRL is a consortium that provides access to hard-to-find primary source materials, including historical newspapers and international dissertations. Because Bates has a three-year membership beginning in 2021, Bates faculty and students can request these materials via interlibrary loan at no cost.

CRL collection highlights

• Historical newspapers
  CRL’s collections include U.S. ethnic press selections like Le Messager, U.S. newspapers from every state, and international newspapers from around the world.
• Official gazettes
  These are the legal newspaper of a country, or of an administrative part of a country, which publishes the text of new laws, decrees, regulations, treaties, legal notices, and court decisions
• International dissertations
  Though we have comprehensive access to U.S. dissertations via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, non-U.S. dissertations can be hard to acquire. CRL has a vast collection, and in many cases will purchase new dissertations if you request one they don’t own.

For more highlights by subject, see CRL’s Topic Guides.

How can I make a request?

All requests for CRL items are filled using interlibrary loan. In fact, you may be getting CRL materials without realizing, whenever you make a request for something they happen to have. See our CRL guide for several options for starting your request.