Natural Resources Library St. Paul

The Natural Resources Library is a small, cozy library in Hodson Hall with collections on forestry, wildlife, fisheries, zoology, entomology, wildlife management and more.

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Accessibility

Computers and adaptive technology
All our public computers have either ZoomText or the accessibility suite of Windows Utilities (ctrl+U) installed. An Adaptive Technology lab is available in 307 Wilson Library.

Parking
Nearest accessible parking is located in Gortner Ramp and the S106 Lot. University Parking and Transportation Services provides up-to-date information about transit options, biking, parking, and other campus transportation needs.

Building entrances
Easiest access is via the power-assisted entrance to Hodson Hall on Upper Buford Circle.

Restrooms

The nearest accessible restrooms on the same floor are located across the skyway in the main lobby of Alderman Hall.

There are also bathrooms located one floor down, accessible by elevator, on the second floor of Hodson Hall.

The nearest gender-neutral bathroom is located on the fifth floor of Hodson Hall, Room 548.

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Spaces in the Natural Resources Library

Natural Resources Library is a quiet and comfortable library with several tables for studying. Outlets and wireless Internet access are available throughout the library.

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Collections in the Natural Resources Library

The Natural Resources Library is home to a premier academic collection of books, journals, government documents, and other information in all formats relating to the subjects of

  • forestry,  
  • forest products,
  • outdoor recreation, 
  • range management, 
  • remote sensing, 
  • zoology, 
  • aquaculture, 
  • conservation biology, 
  • bees and beekeeping, 
  • endangered animals, 
  • entomology, 
  • fisheries management, 
  • herpetology, 
  • ichthyology, 
  • mammalogy, 
  • non-human primatology, 
  • ornithology, 
  • animal taxonomy, and
  • wildlife management.

Collections of distinction

Select collections from the University of Minnesota Libraries were identified as Collections of Distinction for the Google Digitization Project. These collections are unique and/or comprehensive in their subject areas and were given priority for scanning and digital preservation for the long term. 

The Natural Resources Library (NRL) has two of these collections.

Forestry Collection

The former Forestry Library, now incorporated into the NRL, was designated a “Center of Excellence” by the National Agriculture Library (NAL) in 1995, which is a testimony to the breadth and depth of forestry collections*. 

It also includes a large rare books collection on the topic of forestry with many 19th and early 20th Century monographs and a variety of local, state, regional, national, and international serials.

The NRL has one of the strongest collections of current and historical U.S. Forest Service (USFS) publications anywhere, a nearly comprehensive collection.

The Forest Service is a prolific publisher, and has many serial reports as well as miscellaneous publications associated with each of the ten USFS research stations. The research, technical transfer, and other activities in USFS are very wide ranging.

The NRL has strong representation of international forestry literature in many languages – specific uniquely strong collections include those focused on Canadian, German, Latvian, Korean, Chinese, Australian, and Russian forestry in native languages.

Entomology Collection

The Entomology Collection of Distinction housed at the NRL includes over 6,000 volumes and 260 periodical titles, as well as over 700 rare books. The collection was incorporated from the former Entomology, Fisheries & Wildlife (EFW) Library. The original EFW Library collections came from Otto Lugger, the first entomologist for the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, and Father Francis Jager, a renowned beekeeping expert and faculty member whose bee collection (660 books) came to the library in 1930.

A subset of the Entomology Collection of Distinction is the Bees and Beekeeping (Apiculture) Collection. It consists of a total of over 1,100 volumes, including the 660 volumes from Father Francis Jager. The Bees and Beekeeping Collection contains at least 300 rare books, plus approximately 60 periodical titles.

Many of the rare books mentioned above came from the Jager and Lugger collections. Notable works include the earliest English language work on entomology, Thomas Moffett's Insectorum, London, 1634. The oldest imprint in the collection is Ulisse Aldrovandi's De Animalibus Insectis Libri Septem..., Bologna, 1602. Much of the older entomological literature is German, although the subject coverage is worldwide and includes resources in many languages representing not only North America and Western Europe, but also Eastern Europe, Southeast and East Asia, and South America.

A small complementary component of rare and valuable pre-WWII entomology books and serials can be found at another University of Minnesota Library, The Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine.

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Guides

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