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Unit 8: Special Libraries

the end of this unit, you should be able to understand the definition, purpose, features and Notes
functions of the Special Libraries.

8.1 Special Libraries: An Overview

A “special library” is a term for a library that is neither an academic, school, public or national
library. Special libraries include corporate libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, museum
libraries, news libraries, and non-profit libraries. These libraries are not usually open to the
general public, though many are available to specific elements of the public or scheduled
appointments. Special libraries are also sometimes known as information centres. They are
generally staffed by librarians, although many librarians employed in special libraries are
specialists in the library’s field rather than generally trained librarians, and often are not required
to have advanced degrees in specifically library-related field due to the specialized content and
clientele of the library.
Special libraries often have a more specific clientele than libraries in traditional educational or
public settings, and deal with more specialized kinds of information. Depending on the particular
library, special libraries may or may not be open to the general public or elements thereof.
Those that are open to the public may offer services similar to research, reference, public,
academic, or children’s libraries, often with restrictions such as only lending books to patients
at a hospital or restricting the public from parts of a military collection.

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Caution Given the highly individual nature of special libraries, visitors to a special library
are often advised to check what services and restrictions apply at that particular library.
Special libraries may be called libraries, information centres, information resource collections,
or other names, typically decided by the institution that the library is attached to, and may or
may not have a generally trained and qualified librarian on staff.
8.1.1 Definition of Special Libraries

Special libraries are information collections where the entire collection is a single, or several
special collections. Of course, that’s just one definition. The Special Libraries Association (SLA)
is the national professional organization for special librarians to connect with each other, with
other collections, and with vendors for products of interest to special library collection
development and management.
Though the concept of Special Library is of a recent origin, a good number of experts have
defined the Special Library. M.L.M. Harrod in his “Librarian’s Glossary of Terms” defined that
a “Special Library is a collection of books and other printed, graphic or recorded material dealing with a
limited field of knowledge and provided by a learned society, research organisation, industrial or commercial
undertaking, government department or even an educational institution. It may also be a special branch of
a public library serving certain interests or occupational groups such as a technical library or a special
subject library, meeting the needs of all enquiries on that given subject such as a music library”.
The reputed library scientist D. J. Foskett defines a special library as “one serving a group, having
an extra-library existence, whose members direct at least some of their activities towards a common purpose.
This excludes academic libraries as their users pursue their individual ends, and are in no sense united by
a Common Purpose”. The group served, according to Foskett, may be a government department,
a professional association, an industrial firm, a research association or an institute or any similar
organisation. Special libraries serve organisations with a clearly defined group policy, and
members of the group have indicated their acceptance of this policy by the fact of their joining,

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