SCA Reading Room

The Special Collections and Archives Department (SCA) is located on the fourth floor of Founders Memorial Library (Room 403).

The SCA holdings include those materials that, because of their rarity, condition, form, or subject matter, are best handled separately from the general collection. Although these materials are kept in a controlled environment for preservation, we greatly support their use in classroom instruction, tours, exhibitions, research, and other instructional opportunities. We believe that interaction with rare and historical materials is important to the student experience, and we welcome the opportunity to work with faculty and instructors to incorporate primary source materials in to the curricula. We also welcome all researchers who have an interest in our collections.

There is always an exhibit on display in the reading room, along with periodicals, catalogs, comics, and reference books available for browsing. The reading room also houses the NIU Common Press, a replica model of a wooden hand press used in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The library catalog contains the records for the books and publications held in the SCA and our ArchivesSpace database contains finding aids across all collecting areas as well. However, some of our collections are not fully cataloged. Please contact us if you do not find what you are seeking.