Online Learning Materials

The staff of UW-Madison’s Special Collections have collaborated with the Libraries’ Teaching and Learning Programs Office to develop several online modules about our collections. These modules work best as precursors to class visits, but they can also serve as stand-alone introductions to Special Collections.

We currently have two modules available:

Introduction to Special Collections. This module gives a basic overview of our department, covering topics like the definition of terms like “special collections” and “primary sources,” best practices for visiting our department as well as other special collections libraries, and how to find special collections materials in UW-Madison’s library catalog.

Understanding Little Magazines. This module introduces students to UW-Madison’s Little Magazines collection. In addition to including basic information about what a “little magazine” is and why UW-Madison collects them, this module helps students understand how they can use material from this collection in their own research and creative projects.