The Wirtz Labor Library is the library of the U.S. Department of Labor. It provides Department of Labor employees and members of the general public with access to both historically significant and current resources pertaining to labor. It is located in the Frances Perkins Building

Frances Perkins Building

The Frances Perkins Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Labor. It is located at 200 Constitution Avenue NW and runs alongside Interstate 395. The structure is named after Frances Perkins, the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933–1945 and the first female...

 in Washington, D.C.

Established in 1917, the U.S. Department of Labor Library was created with the consolidation of the libraries of the former Children's Bureau

United States Children's Bureau

The United States Children's Bureau is a federal agency organized under the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Today, the bureau's operations involve improving child abuse prevention, foster care, and adoption...

 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is a governmental statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and...

. The Library’s collection documents the history of labor, labor unions and the growth and development of the labor movement in a national and international perspective.

Background

The Library's online catalog provides access to all materials acquired since 1975 and to selected pre-1975 items. The library is the recipient of the 2009 John Sessions Memorial Award.

The Library was dedicated in honor of former U.S. Secretary of Labor Willard Wirtz

W. Willard Wirtz

William Willard Wirtz was a former U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. At the time of his death, he was the last living member of...

 and his wife Jane Quisenberry Wirtz on March 28, 2000. It is a federal depository library

Federal depository library

The Federal Depository Library Program is a United States program created to make U.S. federal government publications available to the public at no cost. As of June 2008, there are 1,252 depository libraries in the United States and its territories. A "government publication" is defined in the U.S...

, and in 2000 was designated a Millennium Library

Millennium Library

A Millennium Library may be:*Millennium Library *A library designation given by the White House Millennium Council...

 by the White House Millennium Council

White House Millennium Council

The White House Millennium Council was an American organization established by Executive Order 13072 in 1998 by President Bill Clinton to commemorate the millennium...

in recognition of its unique historical holdings.

Collections

The library contains 181,000 items, including the James Taylor collection (labor history), the Folio collection (trade union serials), the department's Portrait Collection and a 30,000 volume labor law collection.