ACRL NATIONAL CONFERENCE Colleges and universities in the Twin cities and their libraries Sites to visit during ACRL’s National Conference by Tammy Bobrowsky and Julie Kelly hether students aspire to be doctors, colleges and universities in the Twin Wlawyers, ministers, or librarians, Cities. They share a catalog and, true to there is an academic program to suit their their name, they cooperate in many areas needs in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, the of library service. Minnesota’s statewide site of the 2005 ACRL National Conference. cooperative groups include the MINITEX As one of the largest metropolitan areas in Library Information Network—which links Minnesota (population nearly 3 million), academic, public, state government, and it is home to more than 30 academic in­ special libraries in Minnesota and the Da­ stitutions. kotas—and MNLINK, the statewide virtual Each of the Twin Cities is home to two library. law schools; St. Paul has two seminaries; Perhaps related to the large number of and Minneapolis has two art schools. The colleges and universities in the area, the University of Minnesota offers degrees in public libraries in the Minneapolis/St. Paul more than 300 fields, and the number of area are very popular and heavily used. The four­year colleges, community and tech­ Hennepin County Library, which serves the nical schools, seminaries, bible colleges, suburbs of Minneapolis, consistently ranks and smaller universities is impressive for among the top ten libraries (among those a community of its size. serving populations of more than 500,000) The libraries at these institutions have in the country. a long tradition of working together. Co­ The Central Library of the Minneapolis operating Libraries in Consortium (CLIC) Public Library is currently in temporary is a group of the libraries of eight private quarters about a mile from the Con­ About the authors Tammy Bobrowsky is acquisitions/serials librarian at Bemidji State University, e-mail: [email protected], and Julie Kelly is reference/instruction librarian at the University of Minnesota, e-mail: [email protected] © 2004 Tammy Bobrowsky and Julia Kelly 514 / C&RL News October 2004 vention Center minican Univer­ while construc­ sity in River For­ tion progress­ est, Illinois, since es on the new 1992. St. Kate’s is building, which also home to an was designed inviting and spa­ by architect Ce­ cious new library, sar Pelli. When complete with a it opens in the picturesque view spring of 2006, it of the beautiful will also house campus. a new immigrant Augsburg center and other Walter Library at the University of Minnesota is College serves community re­ home to the Science and Engineering Library. more than 3,000 sources. students and is While in Minneapolis, a few academic located minutes from downtown Minne­ libraries will be within walking distance of apolis. In 1998, Augsburg celebrated the the conference hotels, including the busi­ opening of the James G. Lindell Library, ness and law libraries at the Minneapolis providing students and the community with campus of the University of St. Thomas a four­story building combining a traditional and the newly opened library building at library with state­of­the­art technology. Last the Minneapolis Community and Techni­ year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Peter cal College. Agre, a 1970 graduate of Augsburg. One of the pre­conference tours will The University of St. Thomas is the visit the new joint­use library at Metropoli­ state’s largest private university with four tan State University (see below), as well libraries on two campuses, and more as the new Andersen Library/Minnesota than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate Library Access Center at the University of students. Minnesota and the Minnesota Historical In addition to the Law School at the Uni­ Society Library. versity of Minnesota, there are three private law schools in the Twin Cities: Hamline Private colleges University, William Mitchell College of Law, Many of Minnesota’s private colleges are and the University of St. Thomas, each within the city limits of Minneapolis and with an excellent law library. The newest St. Paul. There’s Macalester College in St. school, St. Thomas, puts an emphasis on Paul—whose famous alumni include Kofi “integrating faith and reason in the search Annan, current United Nations Secretary for truth and justice, through a focus on General, and Walter Mondale, former Vice morality and public service.” President of the United States—and the Within about an hour of the Twin Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Cities are a number of other private col­ The latter is affiliated with the Minneapo­ leges, including St. John’s University in lis Institute of Arts, which is the site of the Collegeville, and its unique Hill Monastic ACRL All­Conference Reception. Manuscript Library, which contains nearly The College of St. Catherine is the larg­ 90,000 manuscripts on microfi lm. est Catholic college for women in the coun­ St. Olaf College, in Northfield, is home try, enrolling more than 4,700 students. to the choirs that perform the Christmas Known locally as “St. Kate’s,” the college Festival, which is broadcast throughout has the state’s only on­site MLIS program, the country on public television and public which has operated in affiliation with Do­ radio each December. C&RL News October 2004 / 515 Carleton College, also located in North­ notable research contributions have come field, is ranked fifth among top liberal arts in the areas of new crop development, colleges by U.S. News and World Report. medical devices, and cures for livestock Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Pe­ diseases. The Minneapolis campus is about ter hosts an annual Nobel Conference, three miles from the conference hotels and featuring recent prize winners and lively interesting campus destinations include the scientifi c discussions. Weisman Art Museum (designed by archi­ tect Frank Gehry) and the new McNamara Public colleges Alumni Center. With three campuses located throughout The libraries at the university are as the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Metropoli­ diverse as its programs, and consist of fi ve tan State University enrolls a very diverse major facilities and 11 branch sites. If you population of more than 4,500 students. are planning a daytime trip to the campus, The St. Paul campus is home to a new call ahead for a visit to one of the special state­of­the­art building that combines the collections, including: library, writing center, and bookstore into • James Ford Bell Collection, document­ the Todd and Martha Nicholson Informa­ ing European expansion from 1400–1800 tion Commons. What makes this building • Ames Library of South Asia unique to the Twin Cities area is that it • Charles Babbage Institute, covering also houses a branch of the St. Paul Public the history of information technology Library. • Givens Collection of African American Minneapolis Community and Techni­ Literature cal College (MCTC) is considered one of In a large cavern underneath the Elmer the most ethnically diverse colleges in the L. Andersen Library, the Minnesota Library state, enrolling more than 5,300 full­time Access Center serves as a secure storage students. Located in downtown Minneapo­ facility for important, but infrequently used, lis, MCTC is home to a new library facil­ items from around Minnesota. Materials are ity, as well as a new Associate Degree in arranged by size, and those taking the pre­ Information Studies program. conference library tour will have a chance Metropolitan State University will col­ to see the subterranean stacks. locate its Business and Management collec­ Walter Library, home of the Science and tion with MCTC’s collection in the spring Engineering Library, is a 1924 building in of 2005. the Roman Renaissance style, and recent The University of Minnesota is a land­ renovation has taken the building back to grant institution and the only research uni­ its original glory. A campus hub of high­ versity in the state. The Twin Cities campus, tech activity, the library shares the facility with facilities on the east and west banks with Digital Technology Center and other of the Mississippi in Minneapolis and in St. campus computing groups. Paul, has an enrollment of 49,000 students. For those who might want to venture The range of programs is diverse, and outside the city limits, consider the Uni­ versity of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Links to Web sites available and its Andersen Horticultural Library, online which is about 25 miles from downtown Minneapolis. Make sure to visit the online version of The Arboretum has more than 1,000 this article for links to the Web sites of acres of public gardens, and the library is the institutions listed here (www.ala.org a research collection with one of the largest /acrl, select “C&RL News” from the collections of seed and nursery catalogs in Quicklinks dropdown menu). the country. 516 / C&RL News October 2004 .