Collections

Reflecting the history and heritage of the campus as an American Indian boarding school, Briggs Library organized and continues to maintain a collection of materials focusing on the off-reservation boarding school education model. The American Indian Boarding Schools Collection, located on the fourth floor of Briggs Library in the special collections area, includes materials on both church affiliated and federally funded schools. As is the case with other special collections housed on the fourth floor, these items are not available for check-out.

Briggs Library has an assortment of atlas materials covering state, national, and world geographical areas as well as historical perspectives. Special language volumes are also available in Spanish and French. The Briggs Library Atlas Collection is located near the reference collection on the main floor. Materials in the collection do not circulate. If you need general assistance, please contact a librarian at the reference desk.

The Best Sellers and Hot Picks Collection is located on the main floor of Briggs Library by the reference collection and is made up of popular reading titles from a variety of current bestseller lists. Books include both fiction and nonfiction selections. Students, staff, and faculty are invited to browse the titles, relax in the comfy chairs, and check out books of interest.

The Career Services Library Collection is comprised of books and other materials selected and provided by the Career Services Center. Cataloged and included in Pounce, these resources provide information on possible career opportunities for liberal arts college graduates as well as specific Morris programs. 

This collection is located on the first floor in the Career and Collaboration Center.

Morris has a strong tradition in jazz, both performance and appreciation. So, it’s not surprising that the Briggs Library CD collection has a strong representation of jazz CDs. However, thanks to the selection by music faculty and a special Rodney A. Briggs Library Associates purchase initiative, classical music is also well represented along with popular and contemporary music styles. Browse through the CD collection located on the main floor of  Briggs Library or look in Pounce for spoken CDs or a particular composer, arranger, performer, or title of a music piece.

The purpose of the Circulating Games Collection is to make available popular tabletop games for the enjoyment of students, staff and faculty as well as community members. Games are located near the main desk located on the Main (second) floor. Up to two games per individual may be checked out. A valid library card is required.

The purpose of the Curriculum Library is to serve the needs of the students and faculty of the Division of Education and to provide resources for current and prospective teachers. In addition to supporting UMM’s teacher education program, community educators and children are also invited to use Curriculum Library materials.

Located on the third floor of Briggs Library, the Curriculum Library consists of several distinct collections.

The DVD collection is located on the second floor. Public computers and large group study rooms are equipped to play DVDs.

Housed within the Faculty Resource Center on the third floor, the Faculty Learning and Teaching Collection includes resources on a wide variety of topics related to the teaching profession, including career development, professional writing, teaching techniques and pedagogy. Books on trends in higher education and faculty welfare are also included.

The general collection is organized using the Library of Congress call number system. The collection is split between various library floor. 

First Floor: A-N
Third Floor: P-R
Fourth Floor: S-Z

In addition to the 70,000 plus electronic journals, Briggs Library maintains a small number of current print subscriptions. These current issues are shelved on the main floor of the library. Back issues and bound volumes of the journal collection are located (in alphabetical order by title) on the 4th floor.

One of the more unique library collections is the "Little Mags" collection located in the McGinnis Room on the first floor. The collection was donated by Richard Grant in 1993. He collected several titles of these subscriptions that often included irregular, non-traditional literary topics of relatively unknown writers. Examples of journals donated by Professor Grant are: Quarterly Review of Literature, New Directions in Prose and Poetry, Southern Review, Robert Bly's The Seventies, and Hudson Review.

The Rare Book Collection is one of the Briggs Library’s special collections located on the fourth floor of the library, along with the UMM Archives.

Briggs Library has a wide assortment of encyclopedias, dictionaries, guides, style manuals, and handbooks covering every subject. The reference collection numbers more than 6,000 volumes. Volumes are shelved near the open study area on the main floor of the library. Atlases are also shelved in this area.

The West Central Minnesota Historical Research Center (WCMHRC) is one of the library’s special collections located on the fourth floor of Briggs Library in room 420. It was established in 1971 under funding provided by the Minnesota Historical Society and contains materials from the greater west central Minnesota region. Counties represented in the collection include: Big Stone, Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Pope, Stevens, Swift, and Traverse.

Another special collection that the library proudly includes among its holdings is the University of Minnesota West Central School of Agriculture Collection (WCSA). Located on the fourth floor of Briggs Library in room 420, this collection represents the records and materials of the West Central School of Agriculture. The West Central School of Agriculture residential high school was located on the Morris campus site from 1910 until 1963.