Membership Options

North American not-for-profit academic or research institutions are eligible to become voting members of CRL.

Up to two representatives of Voting Member institutions can attend the annual Council Meeting to consider new and ongoing CRL initiatives, elect Board members, and vote on the annual budget for the coming fiscal year.

Applying for Voting Membership

CRL’s annual membership year runs from July 1 through June 30. However, libraries may join on the first day of any month on a pro-rated basis. Prospective members must submit a membership application letter to the President of CRL, containing the following elements:

• Acknowledgment that the institution’s authorizing official has read CRL’s bylaws and agrees to honor the membership terms detailed in the bylaws
• A proposed start date
• Indication of whether the institution chooses to enroll through the new member incentive program (see below)
• Indication of campus branches to be covered in the membership
• A list of key contacts
• The signature of the institution’s authorizing official. Preferably this will be an academic dean or provost, since CRL resources will be accessible to the entire institution, but it may also be the library director.

Annual Cost Share

Libraries support CRL activities and services by paying an annual "means based" cost share rather than a membership fee. The cost share is based on rolling, five-year average of the institution’s annual library materials expenditures. The cost share rate is just over one-half of one percent. (A library with a five-year average AME of $1,000,000 would pay an annual cost share of $5,200.) The minimum cost share for voting members is $1,200, and the maximum is $78,000.

CRL defines library annual materials expenditures (AME) as “aggregate expenditures for acquisitions and binding (books, periodicals, microforms, and all other library materials including electronic media, regardless of source of funding) for all library units [branches] included in the CRL membership and eligible for service by CRL.”

New Member Incentive Program

If an institution has not been a member of CRL previously (or during the past five years), it qualifies for the New Member Incentive program with a three-year membership commitment. This is designed to give new voting members a chance to “ramp up” to full usage.

For the first year of membership, the new member institution pays only 1/3 of its normal cost-share amount; the second year, it pays 2/3 of the cost-share amount; and in the third year the library pays the full cost-share. The reduced cost share applies to the first two full years of a membership even for institutions joining during CRL’s fiscal year.

Global Affiliate Membership provides educational, and research institutions located outside North America access to CRL collections and services. Global Affiliates have the following benefits:

• Digital delivery of materials scanned in response to loan requests, and to other collections digitized by CRL for research and teaching.
• Document delivery of articles and chapters sent through ARIEL document delivery
• Interlibrary loan access to a collection of 3.5-million microform resources, including a 90-day loan period, renewable loan periods on request, and fourth-day delivery on most requests
• Ability to load CRL catalog records or subsets to local catalog or system at no charge (includes periodic updates)
• Online access to the LLMC-Digital full-text database of over 73,000 volumes of primary legal publications
• Free participation in CRL collection webinars, workshops, and forums
• Individualized resource support.

Cost Shares

Because CRL is a research library consortium, membership costs are apportioned to reflect the size and means of each institution.

• Global Affiliate cost shares range from a minimum of $2,000 to a maximum of $18,000 (US$) annually. The cost share is a percentage (currently 0.26%) of an institution’s average annual library materials expenditures (see definition below) for the most recent five years, and requires a minimum three-year membership commitment.
• Global Affiliates are required to pay all shipping costs for materials borrowed.

Definition of annual library materials expenditures

Annual library materials expenditures are defined as “aggregate expenditures for acquisitions and binding (books, periodicals, microforms, and all other library materials including electronic media, regardless of source of funding) for all the library units [branches] included in the CRL membership and eligible for service by CRL.”

Members must renew their CRL membership before January 1 annually for the upcoming membership year (July 1 through June 30).  This notification allows CRL time to plan and budget activities for the upcoming year. 

Renewal

A membership renewal letter is sent to member institutions each November.  The renewal process requires that members supply their annual library material expenditures figure for the most recently completed year, since member cost shares are based on a “rolling” five-year average of library expenditures. CRL defines annual library materials expenditures are defined as “aggregate expenditures for acquisitions and binding (books, periodicals, microforms, and all other library materials including electronic media, regardless of source of funding) for all the library units [branches] included in the CRL membership and eligible for service by CRL.”

Automatic Renewals

The memberships of libraries that have made a multi-year commitment to CRL renew automatically for the duration of the commitment period. All other institutions' memberships automatically renew unless written notification of non-renewal is received by CRL before January 1.  (The automatic renewal provision is documented in the CRL membership application letter and in CRL bylaws.)

Discontinuing Membership

Institutions that choose to discontinue their membership for the upcoming membership year (July 1 through June 30) must notify CRL of their decision before January 1.  

Should an institution notify CRL of its intent to discontinue membership, their membership remains in effect through June 30th of that fiscal year. Research and teaching faculty, students, librarians, and other users continue to enjoy unlimited access to CRL collections, programs, services, and other opportunities during that period.