Combined Arms Research Library

Combined Arms Research Library. The library is a key component of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, supporting the education and research needs of United States Army officers, including those from the United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and United States Air Force. It is located at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and serves as a major research center for military history, tactics, and strategy, with a collection that includes works by Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and Julius Caesar. The library's holdings are also used by scholars from Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Oxford.

● History

The library was established in 1946, following World War II, with the goal of supporting the United States Army's efforts to develop new tactics and strategies in the face of emerging threats from the Soviet Union and other nations, as discussed by George Kennan and Henry Kissinger. During the Korean War and Vietnam War, the library played a critical role in supporting the development of counterinsurgency doctrine, with contributions from David Galula and Roger Trinquier. The library has also been influenced by the work of Basil Liddell Hart, J.F.C. Fuller, and other prominent military historians and theorists, including Martin van Creveld and John Keegan. In recent years, the library has expanded its collections to include materials on asymmetric warfare, counterterrorism, and cyberwarfare, with insights from Richard Clarke and Bruce Schneier.

● Collections

The library's collections include over 400,000 volumes, with a focus on military history, tactics, and strategy, as well as related fields such as international relations, political science, and economics, with works by Joseph Nye, Robert Keohane, and Paul Krugman. The library holds extensive collections of United States Army and United States Marine Corps publications, including field manuals, doctrine manuals, and historical studies, such as those produced by the United States Army Center of Military History and the Marine Corps History Division. The library also subscribes to numerous academic journals and newspapers, including Foreign Affairs, The Journal of Military History, and The New York Times, and receives publications from think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation. Additionally, the library has a significant collection of rare books and manuscripts, including works by Napoleon Bonaparte, Erwin Rommel, and George S. Patton, as well as materials related to the American Civil War, World War I, and World War II.

● Facilities

The library is housed in a state-of-the-art facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with over 50,000 square feet of space dedicated to collections, research, and study areas, and is equipped with technology and resources to support research and learning, including databases such as JSTOR and EBSCO, and online resources such as Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic. The library's facilities are designed to support the needs of United States Army officers and other researchers, with study rooms, classrooms, and meeting spaces, and are also used by scholars from University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan, and Columbia University. The library is also home to the United States Army Command and General Staff College's Carter Library, which houses a collection of rare books and manuscripts related to military history and leadership, including works by Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.

● Services

The library offers a range of services to support the research and education needs of United States Army officers and other users, including reference assistance, research support, and instructional services, with librarians who are experts in military history and related fields, and have worked with scholars from University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The library also provides access to electronic resources, including databases, e-books, and online journals, such as ScienceDirect and IEEE Xplore, and interlibrary loan services, which allow users to borrow materials from other libraries, including the Library of Congress and the British Library. Additionally, the library offers classes and workshops on research skills, information literacy, and academic writing, with instructors who have taught at University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Georgia Institute of Technology.

● Operations

The library is operated by the United States Army Command and General Staff College, with a staff of librarians, archivists, and support personnel, who work closely with faculty members and researchers from United States Army units, including the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command and the United States Army Special Operations Command. The library is open to United States Army personnel, Department of Defense civilians, and contractors, as well as to scholars and researchers from universities and institutions around the world, including University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, and Australian National University. The library's collections and services are also available to veterans and retired military personnel, and to students and faculty members from partner institutions, such as Kansas State University and University of Kansas.