Located at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in the city of Claremont, California (population 36,500), 35 miles east of Los Angeles, the Claremont Colleges are a geographically contiguous set of five top-ranked liberal arts undergraduate colleges and two graduate institutions, uniquely configured to support and encourage interdisciplinary study. The Libraries, a part of The Colleges' supporting organization, the Claremont University Consortium, support all seven colleges across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Comprising four buildings, three of which are located on individual campuses, the Libraries hold more than 2 million volumes and subscribe to a vast array of electronic resources.
The Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL) was established in 2004/05 by the Academic Deans of The Claremont Colleges upon their approval of recommendations from cross-colleges Task Force. The CCDL is managed by the Library/Information Technology Unit of the Libraries of The Claremont Colleges. It draws upon the expertise and skills of the staff in that unit and benefits from the technology infrastructure and staff already in place and supporting the digital resources managed by the Libraries staff. Additional support and oversight is provided by an Advisory Committee comprised of faculty and staff from across The Claremont Colleges.