University of Basel

University Library

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

Opening hours on public holidays

Location and contact

Peter Merian-Weg 6, 4052 Basel
Postal address
info-ubw-swa@clutterunibas.ch
+41 61 207 32 19

All news
All upcoming 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

FunctionContactTelephone
Information and lending servicesInfo-Ausleihe+41 61 207 32 19
Head of LibraryIrene Amstutz+41 61 207 32 02
Chief Operations OfficerGerald Fritz+41 61 207 32 04
SecretariatCornelia Husi+41 61 207 32 10
Subject librarian for sociologyCaroline Huwiler+41 61 207 29 82
Subject librarian for economicsPhilipp Casula+41 61 207 32 03
Subject librarian for economic history, archivistMartin Lüpold+41 61 207 10 82
Documentation on companies and organisationsOliver Plüss+41 61 207 32 44
Documentation on personsMarion Baumgartner+41 61 207 32 44
Documentation by topicsVera 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 numberSubject areaLocation
Q...EconomicsOpen stacks reading room 1
MA... - ML...Political ScienceOpen stacks reading room 2
MN... - MS...SociologyOpen stacks reading room 2
NW...Economic HistoryOpen stacks reading room 2
ND...Archival ScienceOpen stacks reading room 2
AE...GeneralOpen 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.

Training courses

Subject-specific training courses
All training courses on offer
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

 

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