As the LRC completes its migration to the academic CARLI library group, we can now offer access to exciting and unique new resources. Some of the features available to library patrons include being able to place holds on items at Richland and have them waiting for pick up. Another tool that students are already using is “Text Me the Call Number.” This saves time and students really appreciate that. They come into the library holding out their phones and asking where that section is in the stacks. Finally, there is a mobile app that will be available so that searching the new library catalog is possible on a smart phone. Our books are in delivery to other campuses every day now; items are coming in to our patrons from all across Illinois. Perhaps the biggest bonus for this new service to our students is that they will not have to learn a new library system when they transfer to another Illinois college or university.

Another special resource from CARLI is the CARLI digital image collections. These collections can be browsed by your topic of interest, and are also searchable by keyword. Each collection has a specific focus, and most provide access to primary source documents and photographs relevant to local history enthusiasts.

For example, education researchers will be pleased to find an extensive collection of records, writings, and photographs associated with Elizabeth Harrison and the Chicago Kindergarten Movement. Nursing and science faculty will be impressed at the availability of a number of Florence Nightingale’s personal letters, as well as a large collection of images that depict plastic embedded brain specimens, both normal and pathological (Percival Bailey Brain Specimens Collection). For history buffs, a number of collections offer local perspective on the impact of the Civil War, including the war diary of union Illinois Infantry soldier William R. Townsend, as well as the personal papers of two women whose husbands served in the Fifth Illinois Cavalry (Southern Illinois Civil War). The digital collections also offer early maps of Illinois, such as Sanborn Maps from 1867-1970 and those from the period of French exploration and settlement of the region (Great Lakes Digital Collection).

These are just a handful of examples out of the many thousands of exceptional resources to which our migration has allowed us free access. We encourage you to take a look at these digital collections and identify the many fresh research opportunities they will undoubtedly offer you or your students. Whether your interest is academic or personal, follow this link to find unexpected and uncommon resources: http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/