How do I find research materials? - An overview

The CAT

The Special Collections Library contains almost every format of material found in the Penn State University Libraries including textual, cartographic, pictorial, audio-visual, and electronic research materials. Many of these items or collections are cataloged and accessible through Penn State's online catalog.

Collection Guides and Research Aids

By volume, however, the largest portion of our holdings are archival and manuscript collections. Some of these are cataloged and can be found in the online catalog (the CAT), but they are most fully described in Finding Aids, which list the contents of these collections and details of their arrangement. You can see some finding aids on our Web page, while others can be found in paper copies in the Special Collections Library. There are also a variety of special lists, indexes, and other paper-based tools for identifying and locating materials available on-site in the Special Collections Library.