Minitex is a publicly supported information and resource sharing program for academic, government, public and specialized libraries in the states of Minnesota , North Dakota , South Dakota, and with partners in Wisconsin and Iowa. Minitex was created as a pilot project, initially funded in 1968 through a grant from the Louis and Maude Hill Foundation and state and federal grant funds from the Minnesota State Department of Education.
11-589: The James Ford Bell Library is a special collection of the University of Minnesota Libraries located on the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. It is named for its first donor and patron James Ford Bell , founder of the General Mills Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota . The collection consists of some 40,000 rare books, maps, manuscripts, broadsides, pamphlets and other materials documenting
22-568: 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. The system is the 17th largest academic library in North America and the 22nd largest library in the United States. While the system's primary mission
33-484: Is to enhance library effectiveness by expanding information resources for libraries and providing services to their patrons. Minitex offers access to training, workshops, conferences, and events for the library and education community. Libraries and their patrons can access a number of different services and information resources. These components include the MNLINK, ELM, Minnesota Digital Library, Ebooks Minnesota, AskMN, and
44-471: 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 ; the Kerlan Collection of over 100,000 children's books;
55-632: The Hess Collection, one of North America's largest collections of dime novels , story papers and pulp fiction ; the James Ford Bell Library of rare maps, books and manuscripts, and the seventh largest law library in the United States, including over 1 million volumes and personal papers such as those of Clarence Darrow . The system is a Federal Depository Library , a State of Minnesota Depository Library and United Nations Depository Library. Among research institutions, it maintains
66-557: The Minnesota Library Access Center. The MNLINK system allows user to request materials from one of 600 participating Minnesota libraries to be shared. The Electronic Library for Minnesota is a collection of statewide research and information databases that users can query for research purposes. Ebooks Minnesota provides a publicly available collection of ebooks. In addition, the Minitex system links library loans from
77-569: The collection is global and more than 15 languages are represented. The library was founded at the University of Minnesota in 1953 and was located first in Walter Library. It moved to the newly constructed Wilson Library in 1968. In March 2018, the Bell moved again to its current location in the university's Elmer L. Andersen Library building. The Associates of the James Ford Bell Library
88-450: The history and impact of international trade and cultural exchange in the pre-modern era, before ca. 1800. Its materials range in date from 400 CE to 1825 CE, with the bulk of the collection concentrated between the years 1450 and 1790, the early modern period . The library is known for its globe gores copy of the 1507 Waldseemuller world map , and it acquired a copy of the 1602 Impossible Black Tulip Chinese world map in 2009. The scope of
99-670: The region. MINITEX Today the system is a joint effort of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota Libraries . Minitex is funded by the Minnesota State Legislature to serve higher education communities, and it also provides services for public, school, and specialized libraries in Minnesota through contracts with the Minnesota Department of Education . The purpose of Minitex
110-602: The second-largest collection of government documents in North America. The University of Minnesota was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2017. The library system makes various services available to faculty, staff and students such as: 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
121-524: Was established in 1963 as friends group that contributes to the support of the library and sponsors events and publications. The library has a variety of publications and since 1964 has sponsored an annual public lecture series: the James Ford Bell Lecture . 44°58′15″N 93°14′37″W / 44.97083°N 93.24361°W / 44.97083; -93.24361 University of Minnesota Libraries The University of Minnesota Libraries
SECTION 10
#1733084899878#877122