To gain a better understanding of the critical function of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in liver, we carried out a proteomic survey of mouse liver ER. The ER proteome was profiled with a new three-dimensional, gel-based strategy. From 6152 and 6935 MS spectra, 903 and 1042 proteins were identified with at least two peptides matches at 95% confidence in the rough (r) and smooth (s) ER, respectively. Comparison of the rER and sER proteomes showed that calcium-binding proteins are significantly enriched in the sER suggesting that the ion-binding function of the ER is compartmentalized. Comparison of the rat and mouse ER proteomes showed that 662 proteins were common to both, comprising 53.5% and 49.3% of those proteomes, respectively. We proposed that these proteins were stably expressed proteins that were essential for the maintenance of ER function. GO annotation with a hypergeometric model proved this hypothesis. Unexpectedly, 210 unknown proteins and some proteins previously reported to occur in the cytosol were highly enriched in the ER. This study provides a reference map for the ER proteome of liver. Identification of new ER proteins will enhance our current understanding of the ER and also suggest new functions for this organelle.