The Special Collections Department recently made a move from its home in Hoskins Library to Hodges Library because of the poor climate. However, the architecturally significant library in Hoskins is intended to be the permanent home for all the department has to offer.

In order to make the move, Special Collections had to temporarily close its doors in May. Luckily, many students were already off campus, and the closing did not cause too much chaos.

"We had never, ever closed special collections before," Nick Wyman, research specialist, said. He also mentioned that the Special Collections Department just celebrated its 50^th anniversary.

Sometimes, if a finding aid is really big, there's a chance that it may crash your PC at home. Nick Wyman, Research Specialist

So far, the move to Hodges has been a success. The department is more easily accessible to students who prefer to do their studying in UT's main library.

On the other hand, Hodges is not quite big enough to house all the manuscripts and many records that are found in the Special Collections Department. In this case, a request form can be filled out online, and the item will be sent over to Hodges.

The department's manuscripts are some of the most interesting aspects of Special Collections.

"Manuscripts are handwritten or typewritten," Wyman said.

He said each one is unique and can only be accessed through the department.

The department is open to anyone with a photo ID, and registration is required in order to submit an application for any resources. When entering the department, individuals will be asked to leave their belongings in a locker. Only notes, pencils and laptops are allowed within the department.

None of the material can be checked out. However, people can apply for any item they need, as long as it stays in the department rooms. Some materials and exhibits can even be located on the library's Web site. Often times, a source can be photocopied, but because the paper may be too fragile, copying is regulated.

Students and faculty should be careful when downloading documents at home, because some may be too large for their computers. Using the UT computers is often the best way to go about downloading these documents, since telling when a document may be too large for a computer to handle can be difficult.

"Sometimes, if a finding aid is really big, there's a chance that it may crash your PC at home," Wyman said.

For this reason alone, it is very important to take advantage of all the Special Collections Department has to offer.