 Hi, my name is Athena Jackson. I'm the Director of the Library Special Collections. I'd like to welcome you to this video where you'll learn about what we are, what we do, and what we collect. We're very excited to share with you the materials and the activities and all the services we provide for our users from all over the world. I hope that in this video you'll find some opportunities to continue your research even from working from a remote environment. Until we can get back into the spaces, I wish you the best of luck in your research journey and all the health and safety until we can come together again. Special Collections is the broad term that we use for the rare and often unique materials held by UCLA Library that enable original research using primary source materials. Primary sources are materials in a variety of formats that serve as original evidence documenting a time period, an event, a work, people, or ideas. What are some types of primary sources? Primary sources can be printed materials such as books and ephemera. Manuscript and archival materials such as diaries or ledgers. Audio and visual materials such as recordings or films. Artifacts such as clothes or personal belongings or born digital materials such as emails or digital photographs. Primary sources can be found in analog, digitized, and born digital forms. A secondary source synthesizes in our comments upon other primary and secondary sources. Most works of scholarship are secondary sources and are differentiated from primary sources because of the added element of critical synthesis, analysis, or commentary. What is the connection between primary and secondary sources? Primary sources provide first-hand accounts of the topic or event you're researching, and secondary sources are written about these past events through the lens of the time period in which these secondary materials were written. Scholars utilize a combination of primary and secondary sources in their research to support their arguments and provide new or different positions and ideas about people, places, and events from the past. Why are primary sources important? Primary sources document the lived experiences of people and communities as they intersect with historical events. What is bias and why is it important? Primary sources are often first-hand accounts that reflect the viewpoint and memory of a participant or observer, so it's important to remember this information may contain bias. The authors of secondary sources interpret these primary materials through various lenses to support their argument. The resulting research products are subjective and contain bias. It's important to think critically about all your sources. During in-class activities using special collections materials, we ask students to keep these questions in mind when analyzing both primary and secondary information sources. Who created this item? When was this item created? What does this item document? Who is the intended recipient or audience for this item? What purpose did this item serve?