MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Policy and Procedure Statement 1.11
Labor and Industrial Relations Library
Function and Responsibilities
July 1999

The Labor and Industrial Relations Library is located on the third floor of the west wing in the Main Library.  It was established in 1957 as an adjunct of the School of Labor and Industrial Relations to support their research, teaching and outreach activities.  It now serves the entire University community.  Due to the extensive, historical, interdisciplinary and specialized nature of its holdings, the LIR/HR collection is presently the only one of its kind within the state of Michigan.

The LIR Library is jointly funded and administered by the School and the Collection Management Division of the University Libraries.  The Libraries pay for the books and serials and the School pays staff salaries.  Current staffing consists of a Library Assistant IV and a Library Assistant III.  The LA IV serves as the unit head.

The LIR Library utilizes the Libraries' centralized services such as acquisitions, cataloging, reserve reading, binding, and computer systems.  There is also close cooperation with public service areas such as Main Library Reference, Government Documents and the Business Library.

The primary functions and responsibilities of the LIR Library are:
Collection Development and Management of the books and journals in the interdisciplinary subject areas of labor relations and human resources in the LIR Library and the Main Library; Specialized Reference Service and a Referral Gateway to this printed material and related electronic information for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, labor or management practitioners, and the community at large.

The LIR Library is comprised primarily of a non-circulating Reference Collection in the interdisciplinary subject areas of labor relations and human resources.  Most of the other books and current and bound journals dealing with the employment relationship and the workplace are integrated into the University Libraries.  The LIR Library serves as a specialized reference and referral gateway to that material.  It is also responsible for providing links to relevant labor relations and human resources internet sites for the School’s web page.

In addition, the LIR Library contains many areas of strength on site.  These include several loose-leaf services and information reporters giving access to current LR/HR information.  One area of strength is labor and employment law including court and National Labor Relations Board decisions, federal and state labor and employment laws, and the decisions of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.  There are also extensive holdings of published grievance arbitration decisions.

Unique among its holdings is the Michigan Public Sector Agreement Collection.  In 1972 the LIR Library was designated by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission to be the repository for their public sector agreements and now houses more than 3,000 current agreements with many thousands of superseded agreements in the University Archives.  The library also receives from MERC its public sector fact-finding reports and the police and fire compulsory interest arbitration awards provided for by Public Act 312, 1969.