General Information

About the Reading Room

Business Reference staff offer service in the Science and Business Reading Room in all major business subjects, including industry information, commerce, statistics, banking, insurance, economics, finance, investment, marketing, and more.

The reading room is divided into three areas: a main reading area, and outer and inner alcoves. Business and Science librarians sit together in the inner alcove on the right as you face the front of the room. In the main reading area are tables for readers, the biography collection, and the beginning of the Business Reference Collection proper which consists of over 20,000 volumes located on open shelves throughout the reading room. The left outer alcove houses the continuation of the business reference collection, and special collections of US and foreign industrial directories arranged by state and country. The middle and back sections of the inner alcove contain the last segment of the business reference collection, business microfiche holdings with microfiche readers and reader/printers, and stand-alone work stations, where patrons may access the online catalog, subscription databases, and other online research sources. No office software is provided. The front section of the inner alcove contains a collection of current business periodicals, and business newspapers such as Commerce Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal.

Patrons are encouraged to bring their own wireless devices. Wireless access is available in the reading room and patrons are able to access the Library's subscription databases on their own devices while in the Library reading rooms.

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Reference Assistance

Reference specialists are available at the Business Reference Desk tto help researchers locate information and data. Using the latest in print and electronic sources, every effort is made to provide researchers access to current as well as historical information. Extensive business information is also available from books and bound periodicals in the Library's general collections, which are shelved in closed stacks in the Adams and Jefferson Buildings.

Although much current information is available online, finding current data on some topics may require a visit to the collections of newspapers, current issues of journals, and government publications in the Newspaper and Current Periodicals Reading Room (Madison Building, Room LM133); certain other indispensable information will be found only in microform in the Microform and Electronic Resources Center (Jefferson Building, Room LJ139B). If special needs cannot be met by the collections at the Library, referrals may be made to other resources and collections.