Mission & Collection
Mission
The Minnesota Legislative Reference Library serves the Legislature and the citizens of Minnesota by ensuring access to essential information resources that support the legislative process and promote the understanding of state government. The Library is committed to maintaining a print and electronic collection of current and historical materials to support effective public policy development, and to document the work of the Minnesota Legislature.
Collection
The Library's premier public policy collection of print and digital materials focuses on state-level issues and comparative statistics.
- State Documents - The Library is Minnesota's depository library for state agency and consultant's reports (Minnesota Statutes, sections 3.302, 3.225).
- Mandated Reports - The Library tracks, acquires, and makes available electronically all reports required by the Legislature.
The Library's catalog links to digital copies of state agency documents (Minnesota Edocs) archived by the Library. All documents from 2003 to the present are available digitally, with older documents added to the digital collection on a selected, ongoing basis.
The Library's collection includes state and national journals, covering a wide range of public policy areas.
The Library subscribes to national and state newspapers in print and purchases access to many digital newspapers for legislative users. The Library maintains an in-house electronic Library News Archive for legislative users, covering 2009 to the present. Extensive print clipping files from 1970-2009 are also available.
- Legislature - Includes detailed information on party control, length of sessions, special elections, and other statistical information on the Legislature. Information about each legislative session is compiled in the Legislative Time Capsule. In addition, the Library has extensive print files and notebooks on legislative and state government history, including governors, elections, and state agencies.
- Legislators Past and Present - Biographical records and details about terms of service are available for all legislators back to statehood.
- State Government - Includes searchable databases for gubernatorial vetoes, executive orders, Minnesota state agencies, state constitutional amendments, and other information about state government.
The Library creates and maintains guides that summarize current and historical legislative issues, pulling together books, articles, and web resources.
The Library's legislative history collection includes Senate and House historical committee materials and the Legislative Media Archive. The Library provides a step by step guide and a detailed list of available resources. Library staff are experienced and knowledgeable about the often complicated process of researching legislative history.
These pages provide access to state, federal, and non-governmental organization information on topics of interest to Minnesota legislators. The sites listed on these pages are not created, maintained, or endorsed by the Minnesota Legislature.
Library Subcommittee
The Legislative Reference Library is a joint legislative agency of the Legislative Coordinating Commission. Each biennium a Library Subcommittee made of up four legislators, two from each body, is appointed.