 Hi there. This is an overview and introduction to the Special Collections Division of the Merrill-Cazier Library. A lot of students are not familiar with Special Collections, and in this video we answer a series of questions about this area of the library. For instance, why does the library have a Special Collections? What kinds of material are housed there? How much material are we talking about? Why do you collect these things and who uses Special Collections? Why are your rules different than the rest of the library? And finally, how do you find things in Special Collections? So let's answer these questions one by one. Special Collections is a library and archives within the larger Merrill-Cazier Library. We have seven main collecting areas, government information, rare books, art books, university archives, manuscripts, folklore, and photographs. Each area has a librarian or curator who specializes in acquiring, preserving, and making available to the public the materials under his or her care. Materials range anywhere from the congressional record, to old USU photos, to medieval illuminated manuscripts, to the USU student life newspapers, to pioneer diaries, to Latinx oral histories, and to beat poetry broadsides. Although a lot of this material deals with USU, Cache Valley, Utah, and the Intermountain West, we also have the largest collection of cowboy poetry and Little Red Writing Hood books in the nation, and the second largest collections for Call of the Wild author Jack London, photojournalist W. Gene Smith, and 1950s beat poetry. What all this material has in common is that because of its value, scarcity, or fragility, it has been set aside in a supervised, closed-stacks environment. Special Collections has a lot of stuff. There are 1.4 million government publications, over 500,000 photographs and negatives, 22,000 boxes of archival material, 100,000 rare books, and 35,000 art books. I should also mention though, although we have quite a few artifacts like Old Ephraim's Bear Skull, and the furniture of the Hatch Room, or what students call the Harry Potter Room, that's not our main focus. We don't collect all this stuff just to say we have it though, not even because they are rare or valuable or one of a kind. We collect them because we want people, especially USU students, to do research in our collections. Some assume, however, that only history professors or genealogists do research in special collections. The truth is a wide variety of people visit us, from legal researchers, to fiction writers, to artists, to television stations, to ghost hunters, and of course, students researching aggy history and traditions. In fact, some USU classes meet in special collections, creating exhibits or research papers from our material. It's a more specialized type of research than with a regular library. You've heard the term going to the source? Well, we are the source. We have this material so that researchers can create new interpretations in history, literature, and art and to facilitate the creation of original research. Many of the academic articles and books we read in college are based on this type of specialized research. Archival research is different because you create an original interpretation from the primary source. But you might ask, what is a primary source? Well, definitions vary, but there are two main elements. One, how close was the person who created the source to an actual event? And two, how much editing has the source undergone? So, for example, a researcher creating a new interpretation of the Bear River Massacre of 1862 looks at an original, unedited 1862 diary entry from a Cash Valley pioneer, as well as a book published years later that quotes from the grandson of that 1862 Cash Valley pioneer. Both sources have value in different ways, but if someone wanted to know what the 1862 Cash Valley pioneers really thought about the Bear River Massacre, the original diary is a better source. If you come to the reading room to do research, please keep in mind that our rules are different from the rest of the library. We don't do this to punish our researchers, even if it might feel like it, but to preserve the items and discourage theft. For instance, all materials must be viewed in the reading room. No food or drink or pens are allowed at the tables. You must register with the attendant at the reading room desk and show a photo ID during every visit. We will ask you to store all your cases or containers in our lockers and you can only take a laptop, a pencil, and a notepad to the reading room tables. We will ask you to sign a form acknowledging that you have read and understood the rules. You might even be asked to open your laptop or notepad for the reading room attendant just as a precaution. The person at the desk will give you instructions on how to order material for viewing. In most cases, you can photograph the material you order as long as you fill out a permission to copy form. Because of the value and unique nature of Special Collections material, we have different hours than the library. There is, however, always someone at the reading room desk to help you and if he or she doesn't have the answer right off the bat, we'll work hard to find the right person to give you an answer. We are open Monday to Friday, nine to five year round. While school is in session, we are open most Wednesdays from five to seven PM and on some Saturdays from ten to one. We are located in the lower level of the library right behind the main set of stairs. Government information is located on the southwest side of the library in the lower level. The art book room has different hours than Special Collections and is located in the fine arts area of the lower level. One question we often get is who can do research in SCA. We're actually open to anyone and we've had people even from other countries visit Special Collections but between you and me, USU students are our favorites. If this sounds interesting but you don't know how to find materials in Special Collections, that's okay. It's not as straightforward as you might expect and there are several different kinds of searching techniques depending on what you are looking for. We are sometimes asked if everything in Special Collections has been digitized but with millions, more like tens of millions of items, only select high-use materials have been digitized and are available for viewing online. Please see the accompanying tutorial for finding materials in government information, digital collections, Archives West, and the main library online catalog. Keep in mind that the librarians and curators of Special Collections are knowledgeable about their sections and probably know a few tricks to help you find the right material for your research.