Fast Facts
Content compiled by subject experts
Premier list of core recommended titles
Overview
Resources for College Libraries (RCL) is a database that covers the two- and four-year college curriculum, providing a list of core titles essential for undergraduate teaching and research. Co-published by ACRL’s Choice and ProQuest, the RCL database is designed to connect high-quality titles to higher education institutions, all in an easy-to-use, responsive interface.
The RCL database is available in three subscription options, allowing you to select the content that suits your institution’s curriculum and collection development needs: RCL, RCL: Career Resources, and RCL Plus.
RCL titles are selected by practicing subject bibliographers and peer-reviewed by academic librarians and faculty, ensuring that the most essential current and canonical titles are included.
RCL supports library workflows for:
- Collection development, assessment, and management
- Benchmarking using qualitative data
- Research and instruction services
- Accreditation reports
- New program support
- Strategic and fiscal planning
- Subject liaison outreach
- Curriculum-planning
The editorial development of RCL is managed independently by CHOICE, a publishing unit of ACRL, and continues a fifty-year history of recommending the best books for college libraries.
The RCL database features:
- 95,000+ records across 125 curriculum-driven subject disciplines
- 4,500 new titles added each year, on average
- LC classification for search and browse
- Connect directly to local catalog holdings
- Peer-reviewed by over 500 librarians and faculty
Visual discovery with Syndetics Unbound
RCL database users now have more ways to discover core titles with visual data enrichments from Syndetics Unbound™ including: Professional Reviews, Awards, You May Also Like, Look Inside, Tags, and more. These interactive discovery elements help users explore RCL’s curated core recommendations through linked metadata and book cover images.
Full-text reviews
RCL contains selected full-text Choice reviews and easy identifiers for Choice Outstanding Academic Titles.
Related Products
Bowker Book Analysis System
Bowker Book Analysis System™ (BBAS) is a powerful collection-analysis tool and an essential resource for academic librarians to electronically compare their library’s collection against Resources for College Libraries (RCL). This customizable, self-service analysis tool eliminates tedious manual comparison via customized reports for data cleansing and management, and instant identification of the gaps and overlaps in your collection—so you can make better informed selection decisions.
Syndetic Solutions™
Syndetics Unbound is an enrichment service that integrates seamlessly with your existing catalog or discovery layer to provide interactive exploration and increase the usage of your book and library collection. Backed by comprehensive data from ProQuest and LibraryThing, Syndetics Unbound provides the highest quality enrichments and best coverage for retailers, publishers, public and academic libraries.
Academic Complete®
Academic Complete is ProQuest’s award-winning subscription database trusted by libraries around the world. For more than a decade, students have relied on Academic Completes unlimited access, multidisciplinary coverage, and powerful research tools.
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