Christian Library Consortium (CLC)

To help libraries maximize their budgets, ACL created the Christian Library Consortium (CLC) to provide group discounts and resource sharing for Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries.

JOIN CLC

Institutional membership in the CLC provides…

Ability to stretch your library budget with significant cost savings on popular library services and products

An annual opportunity to highlight your library & scholarship at your institution with the ACL Research Award

Library resource sharing through OCLC’s Christian Library Network

An annual subscription for your library to ACL’s journal, The Christian Librarian

The ability to send one non-ACL member from your library to the ACL Annual Conference at the member rate ($90 savings)

Who can join the Christian Library Consortium (CLC)?

Any Christian academic institution of higher education who has at least one full individual ACL member.

Membership Period

Institutional membership in CLC runs July 1 through June 30. There is no grace period with CLC memberships. CLC applications and payments must be completed before taking advantage of current CLC offers.

CLC Institutional Member List

Nearly 200 libraries are represented in the CLC intuitional membership. See what institutions take part in our cost-saving consortium.

CLC Annual Membership Dues

Student FTE	Dues
<500	$50
500-1,500	$100
1,501-2,500	$150
2,501-4,000	$200
>4000	$250

Read how libraries have benefited from their CLC Membership:

Gateway Seminary

We joined CLC primarily for the group discount on Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN). It is an important resource for storing and distributing digital editions of our capstone projects for our D.Min graduates. It allows students to see projects from other institutions and allows our graduates' work to be read and used by others in the field.

Jonathan McCormick, Director of Library Services
Point Loma Nazarene University

CLC discounts help us address the challenges of wisely stewarding our limited resources. We save several thousand dollars a year on our OCLC WorldShare Management Services (WMS) subscription.

Denise Nelson, Library Director
Baptist Bible College & Theological Seminary

We receive an annual discount on the Christian Periodical Index, which pays for the cost of CLC membership. We take advantage of the EBSCO eBook offer almost every fall to build our eBook collection at a discount. This is helping us build a substantial eBook collection for our newly developed online programs and our collection has quadrupled over the past three years. We utilize the Brodart discount for buying our supplies and save money on items we would purchase anyway. We have recently added the Bloomsbury subscription for the Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries to help deepen the electronic content in our online MDiv program.
Jon Jones, Director of Library Services
Cornerstone University

We joined this consortium because it gives us discounts on important resources and allows us to acquire resources that we might not otherwise be able to get.

Jeff Lash, Library Director

CLC Team Members

Beth Purtee
CLC Team Coordinator
Trevecca Nazarene University

Pam Greenlee
Member-at-Large
Olivet Nazarene University

Linda Poston
Member-at-Large
Messiah University

Scott Lloyd
Member-at-Large
Mount St. Joseph University

CLC Membership FAQ

I need to renew our CLC membership but I don’t know our unique Online Access Code needed for the renewal application.

The home office staff is happy to help! Please email info@acl.org to get your access code.

How do I know if our intuition has been a previous CLC member?

If your library has had a previous CLC membership even many years ago, you institution will be in the Organization dropdown menu on the CLC renewal application.

What is the difference between individual ACL membership and institutional membership in the Christian Library Consortium (CLC)?

A membership in the Association of Christian Librarians (ACL) is for a an individual member regardless of if they are currently employed or not. A membership in the Christian Library Consortium (CLC) is for a Christian institution of higher education that has a current ACL member on staff.

I am leaving my institution, but I am the full ACL member at my library required for our CLC membership. What should we do?

Please fill out this google form with any employment or contact information changes. Your individual ACL membership stays with YOU with any employment changes. A full ACL individual member must join before the next renewal season for your library to qualify for CLC membership renewal.

What is the OCLC Christian Library Network and how does our library sign up to participate?

You can learn more about CLN here. If you did not opt in during the CLC membership renewal process, please email clc@acl.org to participate.