Main area

• Economy, economic statistics
• Economic policy
• Country information (in particular Switzerland and its relationship with foreign countries)
• Business information, industry information
• Biography (people with links to the economy: managers, economic politicians)
• Economic history / business history (Switzerland and international), social history
• Swiss history (in particular local history)
• Economic archives
• Business administration see Business and Economics

Literature and source types

• Special focus: document collections on topics, companies/organisations and people
• Lexicons, encyclopaedias, address books, directories and bibliographies
• Monographs and academic journals
• Government documents, legal materials
• Statistical yearbooks, statistics
• Report literature, especially annual reports, country reports
• Commemorative publications on companies and associations, PR material, advertisements
• Business press
• Newspapers and journals by companies, associations and others
• Economic organisations
• Newspaper clippings
• Publications by international organisations
• Reference works, monographs and journals on economic archives
• Archive guides, archive directories
• Within the university’s network: electronic journals and newspapers, online databases, (company profiles, country information, statistics, etc.)
• Archives of companies, economic organisations and social institutions
• Private papers from entrepreneurs, politicians, economists

Time period

• Documentation of current matters
• Historical documentation from around 1850 onwards
• Archival documents from around 1750 onwards; oldest document from 1544; emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries 

Regions

• Emphasis on Switzerland: Confederation, cantons, regions, municipalities
• European Union (EU)
• All countries of the world: mainly comprehensive compilations (country reports, statistical yearbooks, etc.), and the countries’ relationships to Switzerland
• Archival documents: all of Switzerland, focus on the Basel region

Languages

• Swiss national languages (territorial principle)
• Publications from the Confederation and from bilingual cantons, mostly in German
• Publications from the EU, in German or English
• Publications from international organisations, usually in English
• Archival documents in German or French