Special Collections
Many of these unique collections are housed at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library.
- Remembering Kits
- Pima County Public Library offers Remembering Kits to help seniors recollect the past, hand-down stories, build relationships, and just have fun reminiscing with others. The kits can be used with groups of older adults or with groups of a variety of ages. Find out more about Remembering Kits, including how to borrow them.
- 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. Print materials are housed at Joel D. Valdez Main Library. 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. This collection is housed at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library. 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 Joel D. Valdez 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 Joel D. Valdez 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.
- Seed Library
- The Seed Library's mission is to help nurture a thriving community of gardeners and seed savers. In addition to providing access to free seeds, we hope to help support gardeners and seed savers, from beginner to expert, through the process of growing, harvesting, and seed saving. Find out more about the Seed Library and how to use it.
- Steinheimer Collection
- The collection provides an unusual picture of Southwestern history, geography, and ethnology, focused through the unique prism of children's literature. The Steinheimer Collection is housed at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library. Read about the Steinheimer Collection.
- Tucson Museum of Art Research Library
- Over 12,000 books and other items on art, art history, archaeology, and Tucson's history are available at this collection which is free and open to the public. Materials at the Tucson Museum of Art Research Library are fully indexed in the Pima County Public Library'catalog. Find out more about the Tucson Museum of Art Research Library.
- 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.