The University of Minnesota Libraries is the library system of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, operating at 12 facilities in and around Minneapolis–Saint Paul. It has over 8 million volumes and 119,000 serial titles that are collected, maintained and made accessible.[1] The system is the 17th largest academic library in North America[2] and the 22nd largest library in the United States.[3] While the system's primary mission is to serve faculty, staff and students, because the university is a public institution of higher education its libraries are also open to the public.
The Libraries hold a variety of notable, specialized and unusual collections. Examples include the world's largest assembly of materials on Sherlock Holmes and his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle;[4][5] the Kerlan Collection of over 100,000 children's books;[6] the Hess Collection, one of North America's largest collections of dime novels, story papers and pulp fiction;[7][8] the James Ford Bell Library of rare maps, books and manuscripts,[9] and the seventh largest law library in the United States, including over 1 million volumes and personal papers such as those of Clarence Darrow.[10]
The library system makes various services available to faculty, staff and students such as:
Alumni and Visitor Services
Copyright Consultation
Instructor and Researcher Support
Peer Research Consultants
Scanning & Digitization Services
The system also offers services to citizens in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota through MINITEX, a publicly funded program that supports academic, state government, public, school and specialized libraries in the region.
^ a b c d"University of Minnesota Libraries Facts and Figures". University of Minnesota. 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
^ a b c"ARL Statistics 2008–2009" (PDF). Association of Research Libraries, Washington DC. 2011. p. 74. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 12, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^"The Nation's Largest Libraries: A Listing by Volumes Held". American Library Association, Chicago. 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
^Baenen, Jeff (December 18, 2009). "Investigate Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota". The San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^Lemanczyk, Sarah (December 21, 2011). "Sherlock's Archive". Studio 360. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
^Karen Nelson Hoyle (November 1978). "The Kerlan Collection". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 13. doi:10.1353/chq.0.0642. S2CID 144666744.
^"The Hess Collection". University of Minnesota. 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^"Stanford's Holdings and Other Major Dime Novel Collections". Stanford University. 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^"James Ford Bell Library". University of Minnesota. 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^"Law School Profile". University of Minnesota. December 11, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
^ARL Statistics, p. 79
^"2017 National Medal Winners". Imls.gov. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
External links
University of Minnesota Libraries Main Page
University of Minnesota Law Library
University of Minnesota Special and Rare Books Collections