Special Collections  

 To search in the online catalog, go to Search and Find--CONSORT, and select the Advanced Search.  Type a keyword, book title or an author's name, and select DEN Spec Coll from the Location pull-down box. 

During Spring 2013 semester, selected artists' books from Special Collections will be exhibited at the Denison Museum, as part of several exhibitions focused on artists' books.  Also featured are:  4 decades of book art by Johanna Drucker; work by 16 Ohio book artists; and books and 'zines created by Denison studio art students.  For more information, see below, on right, or go to: www.denisonmuseum.org.

Materials from Special Collections often are displayed in a case on the library's main level, just outside the administrative office.  Themed exhibitions may feature artists' books, works from collectible series, or rare books.

The Special Collections and adjoining reading room are located on the library's 7th floor, which is a closed access floor.  It is best to make an appointment if you wish to use any of the collections.  You will be asked to sign in and to show an ID card, and no food/drink are allowed in the reading room.  Please handle materials carefully, as some are in fragile condition.  You may take photographs, but usually may not make photocopies, of these materials.

Be sure to listen to podcasts about the collections, available via I-Tunes University.

The library's Special Collections holds: rare books; collectibles such as artists' books and volumes published by the Limited Editions Club; broadsides; serials; music; and fragile books unsuited to general circulation.  The Denisoniana Collection contains materials written by Denison faculty and alumni, plus books published by the university such as the Adytum yearbook, college catalogs, and alumni magazines.  Just click on one of the red tabs above to begin to explore holdings.

There are more than 5,000 titles in numerous subject areas, dating from medieval times to the present, in Special Collections.  All are available for use in the Archives Reading Room on the 7th floor of the library.  Faculty may ask the Special Collections Librarian for permission to check out materials for personal or class use.  Special Collections materials add value and interest to classroom discussions; for example, artists' books visually communicate their subject matter in ways beyond that of standard print/online texts, while history comes alive when students handle a vellum manuscript leaf from the 14th century.

     Page from British Birds

     Italian Villas and Their Gardens

     Single folio, Italian missal ca. 1450

     Page from Beautiful Leaved Plants

     Limited Editions Club, Call of the Wild

Monday - Wednesday  2-5 p.m.

Friday  2-5 p.m.

Other weekdays by appointment

The Denison Museum collection consists of nearly 8,000 objects dating from circa 1500 B.C. to the present.