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Put simply, special collections are a nexus where technology and content are meeting to advance scholarship in extraordinary new ways.
- Clifford Lynch, executive director, Coalition for Networked Information
Rare, distinctive, unique—academic libraries are exploring new ways to describe and define what we've traditionally called special collections: incunabula, manuscripts, rare books, cultural artifacts and more. These valuable, historically important, and often one-of-a-kind artifacts can be a treasure trove for scholars and students.
Technology has provided an unprecedented opportunity to make these collections discoverable through online search engines, Web pages, and, in many cases, digital surrogates. Every day, more and more digital collections are available to a full range of researchers, from the budding undergraduate scholar to the senior faculty member.
Building and stewarding collections of rare and unique materials are still very important activities for librarians, but they are now adding to those duties promoting awareness of special collections and collaborating with faculty on their use. Special-collections departments are expanding hours of access to physical collections, encouraging a more “hands-on” approach to rare and unique materials, and unearthing “hidden” collections—those that have not been processed or cataloged and so are unknown and thereby unavailable to potential users.
Lori A. Goetsch has been the president of the Association of College and Research Libraries and is dean of libraries at Kansas State University.
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