Research & Resources

Special Collections

These unique collections are housed at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.

Business Collection

The Business Collection provides entrepreneurs, small businesses, job seekers, and investors with key research and decision-making resources. Materials include directories, statistical reports and electronic databases. The collection specializes in local, national, and international company and industry information. Staff also compiles recommended World Wide Web links to help you save time and increase your productivity. Connect to the Business Info Center.

Cele Peterson Arizona Collection

This collection features print and non-print materials of general and popular interest on the history, culture, politics, economy, peoples, languages, geography, and natural history of Arizona with an emphasis on Southern Arizona, Pima County, and the City of Tucson. Find out more about the Cele Peterson Arizona Collection.

Government Documents

The Government Collection features local, state, and federal government publications, including statistical and legal resources such as laws, plans, budgets, census data, and public comment documents. Staff also maintains Internet links to sites for government officials and agencies. The Main Library is a Federal Depository Library, receiving approximately 12% of available federal documents. We are also a State Data Center affiliate.

Periodicals

While many popular titles can be found at your local branch library, the majority of magazines and newspapers can be found in the Reference Department at the Main Library. Find out more about the Periodicals collection.

Postal History Foundation Library

Records for items owned by the Postal History Foundation Library are indexed in the library catalog. Find out more about the Postal History Foundation Library.

Steinheimer Collection

The collection provides an unusual picture of Southwestern history, geography, and ethnology, focused through the unique prism of children's literature. Read about the Steinheimer Collection.

Tucson Museum of Art

Over 12,000 books and other items on art and related subjects in the Tucson Museum of Art Library are fully indexed in the library catalog. Find out more about the Tucson Museum of Art.

Writers of the Purple Sage: Origins of a National Myth

Digitized collection of packets that explore the effects the myths, values, and stereotypes transmitted in the early popular literature of the region continue of have on literature and life in the Southwest. Read more about the Writers of the Purple Sage: Origins of a National Myth.