All books in the Rare Book collections – plus selected books in the Manuscript, Sampson General, African American, Judaica, and LGBTQ+ collections – are cataloged and searchable in URSUS and OneSearch.
Books in Special Collections can't be checked out, but they can be requested for use in the Reading Room.
Use this part of the guide to learn about:
Browse all Rare Book Collections on the Special Collections website.
Each book collection can be searched individually in URSUS.
To search within a collection:
Note: Bolded words in the collection title are used in the Call Number for each item in the collection. Be sure to include the complete call number in your request. See Request a Book in the Reading Room.
Click the image below to practice modifying a search with the Edith C. Rice Collection of Children's Literature.
Rare books are stored in a closed stacks, meaning only Special Collections staff have access to them.
To request books from the closed stacks during your Reading Room visit:
It's important to write the complete LC call number on the call slip, because every part of the call number tells us where to find the book.
To learn more about finding books in URSUS, see USM Research Skills Tutorials: Finding Books (Advanced).