Special Collections

The Special Collections Reading Room is open by appointment.

Hours and Semester Schedule

The Reading Room is open by appointment Monday-Thursday, from 10am-4pm.

To reach Special Collections staff when the Reading Room is closed, please use the contact information on the right-hand side of each webpage.

In order to schedule a time and allow Special Collections staff to prepare materials for use, appointments should be requested a minimum of 48 hours before a researcher intends to visit. Appointments are available from Monday-Thursday in two-hour blocks, beginning at 10 am, noon, and 2 pm. Additional instructions regarding scheduling appointments can be found in the contact webform.

Please contact Special Collections at 801.581.8863 with any questions or additional needs, or contact a curator or archivist with your specific query.

Visitor Access

All users will need to present a personal ID at every visit. Here is a list of approved IDs.

First time community visitors and outside users will need to create accounts with Special Collections. Please plan an extra 5 - 10 min to register an account in our library system.

Affiliates of the University of Utah have a library account.

About Us

The J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Division serves the University of Utah community, the citizens of Utah, and scholars around the world through the stewardship of original and scarce resources. Its curatorial and archival staff collects, preserves, and provides access to materials that extend across a broad range of topics and formats. Rare books, maps, and ephemera document the record of human communication and provide diverse perspectives on local and global history. Unpublished archival manuscripts, photographs, posters, and video and audio recordings document the past and current history of Utah and the Intermountain West through different experiences of Western life. Extensive secondary publications support these collecting areas while a fully developed preservation program ensures that these unique materials will be available for future generations.