University Business and Economics Library – Swiss Economic Archives (SWA)
The University Business and Economics Library is the specialist library for economics and sociology. The Swiss Economic Archives (SWA) is the competence centre for sources of Swiss economics and economic history.
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8:00-18:00
Saturday 8:00-16:00
Orders from closed stacks 9:00-16:00
Location and contact
Peter Merian-Weg 6, 4052 Basel
Postal address
info-ubw-swa@clutterunibas.ch
+41 61 207 32 19
Events
Please contact us for information regarding our library and archive holdings; for search tips; for questions about the catalogue, borrowing and general information; as well as for suggestions and complaints. You may contact us on-site at the information desk, by using our contact form (see below), by email or by telephone.
Contact form
Contacts
| Function | Contact | Telephone |
|---|---|---|
| Information and lending services | Info-Ausleihe | +41 61 207 32 19 |
| Head of Library | Irene Amstutz | +41 61 207 32 02 |
| Chief Operations Officer | Gerald Fritz | +41 61 207 32 04 |
| Secretariat | Cornelia Husi | +41 61 207 32 10 |
| Subject librarian for sociology | Caroline Huwiler | +41 61 207 29 82 |
| Subject librarian for economics | Philipp Casula | +41 61 207 32 03 |
| Subject librarian for economic history, archivist | Martin Lüpold | +41 61 207 10 82 |
| Documentation on companies and organisations | Oliver Plüss | +41 61 207 32 44 |
| Documentation on persons | Marion Baumgartner | +41 61 207 32 44 |
| Documentation by topics | Vera Bieri | +41 61 207 59 74 |
Registration
If you do not already have a library account, you can find out here how to register for and set up an account.
Searching
All media at the library, SWA document collections and archive holdings can be found in the catalogue.
There is an additional finding aid for document collections and archive holdings.
An overview of databases and e-journals can be found under subject areas.
Our staff at the information desk are happy to support you with searching, using the catalogue, databases, etc. as well as with all other steps.
Open stacks area
You can get books in the openly accessible collection either directly from the shelves (and borrow them using the self-checkout or at the information desk) or order them to the University Main Library. The shelving follows the RVK classification scheme.
| RVK call number | Subject area | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Q... | Economics | Open stacks reading room 1 |
| MA... - ML... | Political Science | Open stacks reading room 2 |
| MN... - MS... | Sociology | Open stacks reading room 2 |
| NW... | Economic History | Open stacks reading room 2 |
| ND... | Archival Science | Open stacks reading room 2 |
| AE... | General | Open stacks reading room 3 |
Orders from the closed stacks, special reading room
Journals, older books, document collections and archive holdings are kept in the closed stacks. You can order them through the catalogue.
Journals, document collections, archive holdings and literature (with a date of publication before 1900) may only be ordered to and consulted in the special reading room. Once you have placed your order, you may pick up the items 30 minutes later (if you have placed the order before 4pm); they will be kept for you there for a week. While you are working with the materials, you can leave it marked with a yellow paper slip on any work space in the special reading room.
Business newspapers, daily newspapers and economic journals are available to read in the special reading room.
Academic print journals from the current year are kept in alphabetical order in the open stacks reading room 3.
General information about borrowing, ordering and digitisation
Fees, interlibrary loans, digitisation of documents, external storage library (Kooperative Speicherbibliothek Schweiz)… - for further information please see our Services page. The rules and regulations apply equally to all university libraries.
Guided tours through the library for students at the commercial high school (“Wirtschaftsgymnasium”)
In this introductory training course, the participants learn how to find the appropriate books and newspaper articles on their chosen themes for their written assignments or Matura papers.
After a short demonstration on searching the library catalogue, document collections and databases, the participants have the opportunity during an exercise to look for literature themselves and ask questions. Tips for students on how they can find the desired literature complete the training course.
Contact: Gerald Fritz
Interactive library discovery with Actionbound
Discover the library with the Smartphone App Actionbound: Download app herunterladen, scan QR code, get started
Guided tours at the Swiss Economic Archives
There are customised guided tours available at the Swiss Economic Archives: either on a specific topic for interested groups or as introductions to a particular corpus of relevant sources for student groups.
Contact: Irene Amstutz
Guidance
Looking for archival sources or for a research topic? Questions about archival research? We will be happy to advise you.
On foot from the SBB train station
Heading east from the SBB train station, it will only take you a couple of minutes on foot to reach us. Take the overpass at sector A, walk past the “Post” car park or through the covered passageway (Postpassage). Then cross the road and follow the footpath which runs alongside the train lines. You will see a green building, the “Peter Merian-Haus”. Go past that and continue to the silver-grey building, the “Jakob Burckhardt-Haus”, which houses the library and the Faculty of Business and Economics.
By tram
Take no. 10 or 11 until „Peter Merian”. The tram stops directly outside our building. The stop „Grosspeterstrasse” for the no. 15 is also close by.
By car
We are reachable within a few minutes on foot from the Postbasel and Centralbahnparking car parks.
For the delivery of goods look for the „Postbahnhof” sign and then follow the „Uni Basel Wirtschaftswissenschaften” entrance. There is no parking for private cars here!
Coordinates
DMS: +47° 32' 42.09", +7° 35' 51.48"
Decimal: 47.545028, 7.597639
Accessibility - lift
Please use the lift in the Faculty of Law building (Peter Merian-Weg 8).
Postal address
Universität Basel
UB Wirtschaft - Schweizerisches Wirtschaftsarchiv
Peter Merian-Weg 6
Postfach
4002 Basel
Switzerland
![[Translate to English:] UB Wirtschaft](/fileadmin/_processed_/5/b/csm_DSC00913_13b9385792.jpg?1725438351)
