Special Collections holds some 200,000 volumes of books, journals and pamphlets, as well as archival material, that have been placed on 'closed access' by reason of their age, value or uniqueness in order to ensure their long-term care and preservation for future generations of scholars and researchers.
Special Collections material that has been catalogued since 1980 is catalogued on the Library's online catalogue; however, some material catalogued before 1980 may only be accessed on the card catalogue located on the ground floor of the Baillieu Library. A certain proportion of material, such as the archival collections, does not appear on the main Library catalogue but can be located through specialised lists and databases.