Special Collections strives to provide access to rare and unique materials, including electronic records (also referred to as "born-digital archives" or "born-digital records") that are part of archival collections. Special Collections has a standalone, read-only computer workstation set up in the Reading Room so users can access electronic records. Users cannot make copies of files accessed from the Reading Room station.
Researchers using electronic records in the Reading Room are required to complete a reader registration form before accessing the electronic records workstation. For accessing electronic records in Congressional Papers, users must also sign the "Rules Governing the Use of Congressional Papers" form.
Electronic records on the reading room access station are converted to access-friendly formats. The follow file formats will automatically open up within the Firefox browser:
| Image | JPEG |
| Audio | MP3 |
| Video | MP4 |
| Document |
Standard office suite files (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint) will open up in a LibreOffice, an open-source office application. Users can open and view multiple files at once.
If you need assistance, please ask the Reading Room attendant or the Coordinator of Electronic Records.
Digital Collections consist of digitized Special Collections material, as well as born digital collection material that are accessible via UDSpace or Artstor, our digital collection platforms. More information on digital collections can be found here.