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Special Collections

The Library has a representative collection of literature written for children, primarily preschool to Grade 6. Intended for the use of students in teacher education and children's literature courses as well as those preparing for related careers, this collection consists of picture books, fiction, and non-fiction. Emphasis is placed on acquiring award-winning and special merit books, specifically Caldecott, Newberry, and Coretta Scott King award and honor books. In addition, significant secondary sources, such as best books, books about children's authors and illustrators, reviews, and selection aids are also included in the collection.

The Children's Collection, which is shelved according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system, is physically located on the third floor of the Library adjacent to the "L" classification (education). You can search for children's collection materials in the Library Catalog by author, title or subject. The designation "Juv" in the call number indicates that the item is part of the Children's Collection. Click here to see an online guide to children's literature.

The Library acquires musical recordings as needed to support the music curriculum. Audio compact discs (CDs) are cataloged in the Library Catalog, and housed in file cabinets in the Circulation Hall where they are arranged according to the ANSCR (Alpha-Numeric System for Classification of Recordings) system. You can locate compact discs in the Library Catalog , searching by name (of recording artist or composer), title or subject.

Materials placed on Reserve by instructors for use by their students in conjunction with specific classes are housed in the "Reserves" collection which is located behind the Circulation Desk. These materials range from photocopies of class notes to journal articles, and on rare occasions to course textbooks. Circulation periods for these materials are determined by the instructors and range from two hours to one week.

To find items in the Reserves collection, you can search the Library Catalog by title, course title or instructor's name.

Library services are available on the Stockton campus in the Stockton Library Access Center (Acacia Building Room 1049). Computer research stations in the library provide access to research databases, electronic journals, and the Internet. The Branch Librarian is also available to assist students with reference and research questions.

The Stockton facility houses material placed on reserve for a course, a reference collection, several periodical titles, select years of ERIC microfiche, and permanent reserve items. Search the CSU Stanislaus-Stockton Collection in the Library Catalog to determine what is housed in Stockton. Students may also retrieve materials owned by the CSU Stanislaus Library in Turlock or held by other libraries via the online request form. Materials requested from the Turlock campus are usually available in the Stockton library within 2 business days.

The Stockton branch also provides photocopy machines, video tape viewing stations, and microform reader/printers. Please see the Stockton Library Access Center page for more information for services available.

The Dias Photographic Collection contains more than 30,000 prints, slides and negatives of photographs taken by professional photographer Manuel Dias, who worked for the Modesto Bee and the Stanislaus County Office of Education as an aerial photographer, and maintained his own private photography business for more than half of the 20th Century.  The aerial photography section includes photographs that depict the agriculture, industry, irrigation, recreation, roadways, schools, and urban areas of the San Joaquin Valley.  The Portuguese culture section includes photographs that depict Portuguese culture in the Azores, Portugal, Madeira, California, and Hawaii, with a focus on farming, seafaring, bullfighting, and portraiture.  Images in the collection may be viewed by appointment only.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance.

The Library has been a selective depository of U.S. and California government documents in print form since 1965. Both the U.S. Government Documents and the California State Documents collections are physically located in the stack area behind the Reference Desk. The U.S. documents are shelved according to the Superintendent of Documents (SuDocs) classification scheme which has the effect of grouping publications by issuing agency; the California state publications are shelved according to a similar scheme for the State of California. Federal and state documents which have been cataloged by the Library appear in the Library Catalog (where they are searchable by author (or agency name), title or subject), but the majority of these publications have not been cataloged so require the use of special finding aids. In the case of U.S. publications, GPO, the Government Printing Office's Catalog of Government Publications, is one such aid. For California state publications, the Melvyl catalog is often helpful. For assistance in finding and using government publications, please ask at the Reference Desk.

In recent years, many government publications are also being made available electronically. For more information as well as finding aids, consult the Library's subject guide to Government Information Resources.

The Library also collects materials produced by local government agencies from the University's six-county service area (Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties). The Local Documents collection is shelved in the stack area behind the Reference Desk and adjacent to the California State publications. For more information and for assistance using local documents, please ask at the Reference Desk.

The Assyrian book collection of the Rev. Eshoo Paul Sayad of Turlock was acquired by the CSU Stanislaus library in 1970.  The collection includes many rare and unusual books about the Assyrians, their culture and religion, from their early beginnings in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia to modern times in Northwestern Iran.  The collection includes more than 100 books in the Assyrian language, some English translations, and many books in English and other languages.  Much of the material is cataloged and available for circulation, but a substantial portion of the collection, mostly in the Assyrian language and theological in nature, is non-circulating and available for viewing only by appointment.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance.

This non-circulating collection contains selected Stanislaus County historical documents from a variety of local county and city government entities, covering the period from the mid-19th to mid-20th Centuries.  Major segments of the collection include meeting minutes of the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, case calendars and other documents from local courts, property assessment and poll tax rolls, marriage license affidavits, local school registers, and burial permits.  Materials in the collection may be viewed by appointment only.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance.

Over 200 historical photographs and a commemorative scrapbook have been digitized by the University Library and are available online in the Stanislaus Region History and Culture Image Collection. Part of the library's Special Collections, these works illustrate the history of Turlock, Stanislaus County, and the Central Valley region. This collection is accessible through either of the two following California archive portals: Calisphere or OAC - the Online Archive of California.

The Library serves as a repository for all master's theses submitted by CSU Stanislaus students. To locate theses, you can search the Library Catalog by author, title or subject (as well as by the names of members of the student's committee). One copy of each thesis is shelved in the main circulating collection. A second copy, which is restricted to in-library use, is shelved in the University Archives.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance. 

The University Archives contain materials for the study of the institution's history from all sectors of the CSU Stanislaus campus community since its inception in 1957.  This non-circulating collection includes selected campus catalogs, yearbooks, press releases, photographs, student newspapers, curriculum materials, faculty publications, university publications, and administrative documents.  Archived materials may be retrieved for viewing under special circumstances and by appointment only.  Please contact the Reference Desk for further information and assistance. 

The Library collects films in the video format as needed to support the curriculum. Videos are fully cataloged in the Library Catalog and are housed on special shelving in the Circulation Hall. Video players are also available in the Circulation Hall.

You can search the Library Catalog for videos using the standard author, title and subject indexes.

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Page updated: 05/08/2008