The History of the Washington Research Library Consortium

The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1987 by eight universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to expand and enhance the information resources available to their students and faculty. 

The WRLC is governed by a Board of Directors that consists primarily of administrators from the partner universities with responsibility for the library. A WRLC Library Directors Council advises the Board and the WRLC by providing guidance and direction on programs, operations, policy, budgets, and other matters of import to the work of the WRLC, the Consortium, and the individual libraries. The universities include:

1. American University
2. The Catholic University of America
3. Gallaudet University
4. George Mason University
5. George Washington University
6. Georgetown University
7. Howard University (joined WRLC in 2012)
8. Marymount University
9. The University of the District of Columbia

Programs and services

WRLC provides these mission-critical services to the member universities:

• Information technology supporting library operations
• Technical support for licensed online resources.
• Systems and services to support consortial borrowing
• Offsite library facility to free valuable space in campus libraries
• High-density, environmentally-controlled storage for library materials
• A collaborative partnership of shared resources, services, and expertise.