Special collections

Gothenburg University Library has special collections of older material (before 1958) from what was the Gothenburg Museum at the time. Other special collections include donations from private individuals, and book collections acquired through purchase within various fields.

The Library's special collections

See a selection of the Library's special collections and learn how to request material from the collections.

What is a special collection?

A special collection is defined by some attribute shared by all its materials; such as a previous owner, a subject covered, a particular publisher, or a certain provenance. The special collections of the Gothenburg University Library contain mainly printed books, but includes bookplates, images, and poster material, as well as various kinds of artefacts.

Finding and requesting from the collections

The special collections are held at the Humanities Library, and at the Biomedical Library. The majority of the collections are kept in closed stacks, and cannot be found through Supersearch. Each collection page has specific information on finding and requesting materials from that particular collection, as well as contact details, should you have any questions.

Special reading room

The Humanities library has a special reading room, intended for study of our most fragile and valuable materials. The special reading room is available for reading manuscripts and other rarities.

About the special reading room

Contact us about the special collections

Contact us if you have any questions about the special collections.

  • Describe your question