Special Collections open for student study, research atop Wilson Library

Western Libraries’ Special Collections opened in its new digs -- a spacious and modern set of rooms on the sixth floor of Wilson Library -- back in February.

The new area features climate-controlled storage areas, a huge research space, separate offices for the three Special Collections staff members and a dedicated space for workers to sort through and catalogue new material.

It’s the job of Special Collections to collect, organize, describe, preserve and maintain unique intellectual and cultural heritage materials and to promote the use of these resources by the university community, scholars and the public.

Anyone can come in to study Special Collections materials, but nothing can be checked out.

Stored in row upon row of stacks in the new space are rare books, faculty publications, historical and unique children’s books, children’s pop-up books, reading figurines and books and objects related to fly fishing, among other things. The Helene Whitson Collection of pop-up books boasts more than 320 items, and the Fly Fishing Collection is one of the largest collections in the region focused on the development of fly fishing as a sport.

More information on Western Libraries’ Special Collections is available online at http://www.library.wwu.edu/specialcollections/index.html.