ELM - Electronic Library for Minnesota
ELM licensed resources are supported by appropriations from the Minnesota Legislature through the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Minnesota Department of Education. Additional funding for training and support come from the federal Library Services and Technology Act funds through the Institute of Museum and Library Services in cooperation with Minnesota State Library Services, the Minnesota State Library Agency.

WHAT: The Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) is a state supported, one-stop, reference and information resource; it provides electronic resources from a variety of commercial sources. Resource topics include medical, health, and wellness information; history, biography, social studies, and comprehensive business research. It includes more than 6,000 indexed magazines with full-text articles for over 3,000 of those magazines. ELM contains more than 8,000 electronic books on a variety of subjects, and a worldwide catalog of library holdings and information of over 49 million records, and tables of contents and citations from more than 13,000 magazines.

WHO: ELM serves all Minnesota residents, including students at all levels of education, educators, business people, senior citizens, nurses, artists, and people in many more occupations. It is administered through the MINITEX Library Information Network, a program of the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office. Located at the University of Minnesota, MINITEX is a publicly
supported network of libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota working cooperatively to improve library service.

WHY: ELM was created and supported by the state to provide the access to information resources across the educational spectrum
(including K-12 education, higher education, state government, and public libraries) on a statewide basis. Policymakers recognized the need for and value to the state of expanding access to the growing volume of online knowledge and information. ELM expands access to quality resources through the economical purchase of access to electronic databases. The 1999 Minnesota Legislature invested $500,000 for the Fiscal Year 2000-2001 biennium for K-12 schools and public libraries and up to $1.8 million to the Higher Education Services Office as part of the MINITEX budget. The 2001 Legislature provided additional investment for Fiscal Years 2002 and 2003, but the 2002 Legislature scaled back the increase as part of statewide budget reductions.

WHERE: ELM resources are available in libraries and remotely from homes, businesses, classrooms and computer labs statewide.

HOW: The MnLINK Gateway, a web-based virtual library, offers a common interface to ELM resources and Minnesota library
catalogs. Access MnLINK at www.mnlink.org. If not using a terminal at a participating MnLINK library, users need to log on using a local library card number.

WHEN: Access is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Click here to use the ELM Databases.

09/05/06