Description
The collection is maintained by the Social Sciences, Health, Education and Education Library (SSHEL).
The collection supports the teaching programs of the School of Labor and Employment Relations and in their Labor Education Program both on the Champaign and on the Chicago campuses.
It also serves related departments, such as economics, sociology, psychology, business administration, law, and history. Additionally, the collection supports the work of practitioners, especially in the personnel office of the University, but also in government agencies, enterprises, and labor unions locally and throughout the state.
The Labor & Employment Relations Collection is one of the only specialized labor collections in the state and is among the better-specialized university labor collections in the country. Special strengths of the collection are in international and comparative labor relations, unions and bargaining in the construction industry, and the quality of work life. Recently, special attention has been paid to collecting in the development of labor technology, especially AI, and the relationship between labor and demographic shifts.
The Labor and Employment Relations collection consists of approximately 150,000 volumes. Recently published and frequently used materials in the collection are held in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library, with supplementary materials in the Main Stacks and the Oak Street Storage Facility.
Revised July 2025
Statements
I. Collection Description
Purpose:
To support the teaching programs of the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the master’s and doctoral levels and in the labor education program both in Champaign, and through the Labor Education Program, at the Chicago campus; to support dissertation research and the advanced research of faculty members, primarily in the School, but also in related departments, such as economics, sociology, psychology, business administration, law, and history; to support the work of practitioners, especially in the personnel and affirmative action offices of the University, but also in government agencies, enterprises, and labor unions locally and throughout the state.
History of Collection:
The Labor and Employment Relations Collection began as the Labor and Industrial Relations Library in April 1947, as an office collection located in Mumford Hall. The library was intended as a working collection of basic reference tools and materials needed for the immediate activities of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. The librarian had a joint appointment in the Library and the Institute and was also responsible for purchasing materials on labor from a general library allocation for the Main Stacks. In December 1948, the Institute and its Library moved to a building on South Sixth Street, and then into their present location in the spring of 1962 when the Institute acquired its own building and the library became a departmental library.
From the beginning, great emphasis was placed on collecting materials published by labor unions and pamphlets and fugitive materials. Special strengths in the collection have resulted from faculty interests and donations. Former librarian Archie Green’s interest in labor folklore and folksongs resulted in a strengthening of the collection in those areas in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s, the library purchased a fine collection of materials in Japanese on labor and industrial relations in Japan, located with other Asian language material in the overall Library’s collection. Additionally, the strong interest of several faculty members over the years in international and comparative labor relations has created a strong collection in that area.
In 2008, the ILIR became the School of Labor and Employment Relations and around that time the physical Labor and Industrial Relations Library closed and the Labor and Employment Relations Librarian at the time, Yoo-seong Seong, launched the Labor & Employment Relations Digital Library as an embedded library within the Business and Economics Library.
In 2012, the Education and Social Science Library absorbed the Applied Health Studies Library and the Business and Economics Library to form the Social Science, Health, and Education Library where the collection moved and remains today.
Estimate of Holdings:
150,000 volumes.
State, Regional and National Importance:
With the closing of the A. G. Bush Library at the University of Chicago in the early to mid 1980s, the Labor and Employment Relations collection became one of the only remaining specialized labor collections in the state.
It is among the better specialized university labor collections in the country. Namely, Cornell’s Labor and Industrial Relations collection, which includes labor-related archival materials, complements our Labor and Employment Relations collection.
Special strengths of UIUC’s collection are in international and comparative labor relations, unions and bargaining in the construction industry, and the quality of work life.
Unit Responsible for Collecting:
Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL).
Location of Materials:
A core collection of approximately 1,000 volumes as of July 2025 are housed in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library. The overall collection, including older and supplementary materials, is housed in the Main Stacks and the Oak Street off-site storage facility, consisting of approximately 150,00 volumes.
Citations of Works Describing the Collection:
Goldberg, Elizabeth Doupe. “Problems and Resources of Research in American Labor History.” (Unpub. term paper for LIS 427, December 23, 1971).
McCoy, Ralph E. and Elizabeth 0. Hogg. University of Illinois Library Resources on Labor and Industrial Relations. Champaign: Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Illinois, 1949.
Onsi, Patricia Wilson. “Labor History Resources of the University of Illinois.” Labor History 7 (Spring 1966): 209-215.
Shapiro, Rose Beck. “A Survey of Industrial Relations Research Libraries in the U.S.” Master’s thesis, Graduate School of Library Science, University of Chicago, 1962.
Soltow, Martha Jane. “University Industrial Relations Libraries: An Overview.” Special Libraries 67 (April 1976): 195-201.
“University of Illinois Library Resources on Labor and Labor Relations.” 1946 (Unpub.).
II. General Collection Guidelines
Languages:
English with some other languages.
Chronological Guidelines:
No restrictions. Labor movements and labor unions are, however, primarily phenomena of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Geographical Guidelines:
No restrictions. Special interest in unions in Illinois. Limited sources in Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and the Arab Middle East and North Africa.
Treatment of Subject:
The library attempts to acquire materials to support current research and graduate teaching in the School’s areas of concentration: collective bargaining, including labor relations, labor law, arbitration and dispute settlement, labor unions, labor history; international and comparative industrial relations, including global labor unions, labor law, industrial relations systems of other countries; human resources and labor economics; human resource management, including organizational behavior, industrial psychology and sociology, working conditions, occupational safety and health, compensation and benefits. Emphasis is placed on collecting serial, monographic, and ephemeral material published by labor unions and workers’ organizations and on obtaining histories of unions.
Types of Materials:
Emphasis is placed on collecting materials published by labor unions and workers’ organizations, especially related to Illinois.
Date of Publication:
No restrictions. Mostly 20th century to the present.
Place of Publication:
No restrictions. Materials acquired are primarily published in North America, Western Europe, and Japan.
III. Collection Responsibility by Subject Subdivisions with Qualifications, Levels of Collecting Intensity, and Assignments
Below is a table that lists specific subject subdivisions within the collection. Each row in the table lists a specific subject subdivision, followed by three columns noting: Collection Strength, Primary Assignments and Secondary Assignments. The Existing Collecting Strength column notes how well the existing collection covers that topic on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being very strong. The Primary Assignments column lists departmental libraries that have the greatest collection intensity of subject materials, respectively. In the case of 2 or more libraries listed, the collection intensity is comparable. The Secondary Assignments column lists departmental libraries where additional materials may be found.
| Labor & Employment Relations Collection | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| SUBJECT SUBDIVISIONS | EXISTING STRENGTH | PRIMARY ASSIGNMENTS | SECONDARY ASSIGNMENTS |
| COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION: | |||
| Employee benefits | 2 | SSHEL | |
| Job analysis | 2 | SSHEL | |
| Job evaluation | 2 | SSHEL | |
| Pay structures | 1 | SSHEL | |
| Pay surveys | 1 | SSHEL | |
| Performance appraisal | 2 | SSHEL | |
| EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS: | |||
| Arbitration | 4 | SSHEL | Law |
| Collective bargaining | 4 | SSHEL | |
| Contract administration | 4 | SSHEL | |
| Industrial Sociology | 4 | SSHEL | |
| INTERNATIONAL LABOR: | |||
| Labor movements | 3 | SSHEL | |
| Industrial relations | 3 | SSHEL | |
| Labor history | 4 | History, Philosophy, and Newspaper | SSHEL |
| Labor laws | 4 | Law | SSHEL |
| International activities of labor unions | 3 | SSHEL | |
| LABOR ECONOMICS | 4 | SSHEL | |
| AMERICAN LABOR HISTORY: | |||
| Working-class movements | 4 | History, Philosophy, and Newspaper | SSHEL |
| History of individual labor unions | 4 | SSHEL | History, Philosophy, and Newspaper |
| LABOR LAW: | |||
| Discrimination | 4 | Law | SSHEL |
| Wages and hours | 3 | SSHEL | Law |
| Occupational safety and health | 4 | SSHEL | Law |
| Social security, pensions | 3 | SSHEL | Law |
| Unemployment insurance | 3 | SSHEL | Law |
| Worker’s compensation | 3 | SSHEL | Law |
| Labor standards | 3 | SSHEL | Law |
| LABOR UNIONS (organizing, federations, political activities, Administration, education, history) | 4 | SSHEL | |
| LABOR FOLKLORE | 3 | SSHEL | Literature and Languages |
| QUALITY OF WORKING LIFE: | |||
| All areas | 4 | SSHEL | |
| except: | |||
| Working conditions | 4 | SSHEL | |
| Job design | 4 | SSHEL | Grainger |
| Technological change | 4 | SSHEL | Grainger |
| HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: | |||
| Selection and staffing | 1 | SSHEL | |
| Training and development (except executives) | 2 | SSHEL | |
| Adult education | 1 | SSHEL | |
| International | 4 | SSHEL | |
| Human resource information systems | 1 | SSHEL | |
| Employment promotion | 3 | SSHEL | |
| Personnel policies | 4 | SSHEL | |
Sections on the description, history, significance, holdings estimate, and location of materials were researched and written by Casen Joyner.
Version Date: July 2025