ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the library needs of economists doing research in economic history. After a brief reference to the special characteristics of the information required by the economic historian, it discusses trends in the subject—particularly the persistent interest in economic growth and development since the early 1950s and the 'new' economic history with its heavy dependence on statistical-analytical techniques. The chapter suggests that an order of priorities for university libraries providing economic historians with research material. It considers the information needs of economic historians with particular reference to their implications for university library acquisition and discard policies over the next decade—a period which is likely to be characterized by particularly severe constraints on the financial and spatial resources of university libraries. Research worker in the field of economic history, however, has endless scope for starting where his predecessors have left off.
