The Department of Economics at the University of Minnesota funds their own library, the Economics Research Library. In January of 1999 the library moved from its 30+ year location in the Science Classroom Building on the east bank of the Missisippi River to the 12th floor of Heller Hall (then called the Management/Economics Building), two floors above the Economics Department main office. The department gave up the Economics Research Center underground space on the East Bank in a trade for the 12th floor. We occupy the former Marketing Department main office area, on the west side of the building, wrapping around each corner to the north and south. The library has an impressive view of downtown Minneapolis (especially at sunset), and the curving channel of the Mississippi River to the northeast. Occasional tugboats can be heard blowing their whistles, paddleboat charters chug by in the summer, and blue herons fly along the waterway.
The library was started in 1967 and first consisted of loaned books and journals from department professors. A fund was then established for purchasing books and journals. An important part of the collection is the discussion (or working) paper series. These are articles distributed before their publication in a journal. We acquired these papers in exchange for our discussion papers with other economics departments around the world. Working papers were not collected by the University Library system, and few economics departments have such an extensive collection as ours. Now most working papers are on the internet, and we have a page with links to many of them.
Besides journals, books, and working papers, the library also collects some reprints and government documents. We also have a reference collection consisting of economics dictionaries and directories, finding aids, and other works on economics. The ERL has access to EconLit available through OCLC's FirstSearch; this index includes economics journal articles from 1969 to date, some working papers from the mid-80s to date, and papers within collections from 1984-date.
The Economics Library can be used by anyone; however, ONLY faculty and graduate students
from the Department of Economics may check items out. Services include:
reference by phone (612-625-2516); a monthly
"Recent Acqusitions List" (available on this web site);
and a copy machine that graduate students can use for
copying library materials at 5 cents per copy. Library hours are
usually every weekday (with occasional announced closings) from 1:00
- 4:30 p.m. Location: 1235 Heller Hall.
Wendy Williamson
Economics Research Library
1235 Walter W. Heller Hall
University of Minnesota
271 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
USA
Phone: 612-625-2516
Email:
wendy@umn.edu
Comments to: 
Economics Research
Library
Copyright: 1998-2008, University of Minnesota
Last Modified:February 25, 2008
Page URL: http://www.econ.umn.edu/~econlib/
Office: Economics Research Library, Department of
Economics
Page Coordinator: Wendy Williamson,
email
