During the past decade we have noted a marked increase in the use of special collections materials in the university classroom. This presents the library with an opportunity to assert its role as a unique and irreplaceable contributor to the University's core mission. Asserting this is predicated on the assumption that an instructor's goals will be met, that students will become successful researchers, and that library staff will survive the encounter. This is not easy to accomplish and this article is an attempt to describe those elements that we have found to be central to a successful instructional outcome.During the past decade we have noted a marked increase in the use of special collections materials in the university classroom. Increased instructional interest, in what are casually called "primary sources," appears to be the combined result of internal library efforts to systematize, democratize, and promote special collections as well as the professoriate's embrace and recognition of the rather large pedagogical value of small original research projects. In short, special collections are no longer being held in reserve for the use of graduate students, faculty, and other so-called "serious researchers."This growth in the instructional use of special collections materials has occurred in an era characterized by shrinking campus budgets and increased administrative scrutiny, and we would argue that the broader instructional
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