Special Collections

Welcome to Special Collections. This department of the library works to process and preserve the many items in the different specialized collections. One way of doing this is by digitizing items to be shared electronically. Most items in the collections are not available for lending given the rare and fragile nature of the items and these items are usually digitized to provide researchers a way of viewing the item.

Special Collections is made up of different areas in the library. The Special Collections office is located on the main floor of the library in Room 210. In the Special Collections office there is a dedicated Restoration Area. This area has many archival tools used for the repairing of books and these tools are also used for other restoration projects. Special Collections also contains a Digitizing Document Camera Stand for digitizing large items. The Special Collections office also has a full conference table for meeting use. The office also has a collaborative table which has a wall monitor with internet access for meetings requiring network access.

Right next door to the Special Collections office in Room 212 is University Archives. This area has space-saving mobile track shelving and contains additional tables for research and item processing. This area also houses the Hoskins Collection. The second part of University Archives is called the Vertical Files Room which contains correspondence, photographs, and records in 14 filing cabinets organized alphabetically. The Vertical Files is located in Room 112 and also contains a high-quality scanner for digitizing items for the Digital Collections.

The last area of Special Collections contains the Treasure Collection which is a completely separate unmarked room containing many valuable cultural treasures and many rare books. This room is also where the Delius Collection is located and the physical copies of the digitized Corse Collection.

In each of the document sensitive areas humidity control devices are in place to protect the collections. There are still many items in each of the collections that are yet to be processed, which will eventually provide an even greater value to each of the collections located in Special Collections.

The department does not currently charge for reasonable research requests. Please use the Special Collections Materials Request Form to request items or for research assistance. For very large projects, please contact the Special Collections Department directly to discuss your project. For publication credit of items used from Special Collections, please credit as follows: Jacksonville University, Carl S. Swisher Library Archives.

Many people have made significant contributions to the library. If you have a donation that you would like to make, please read over the Gift Policy for more helpful information.