Special Collections is committed to providing University of Tennessee faculty and instructors a variety of learning opportunities. Having students work directly with primary source materials provides them with opportunities to think critically, develop personal relationships to history, and engage with the complex perspectives of the past that primary sources present.   

Spring 2021

During this time of COVID, Special Collections considers the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff our chief priority. As a result, all instruction sessions for Spring 2021 will be held virtually. In order to practice recommended social distancing protocols and follow IMLS guidelines regarding the quarantine of physical materials, we have closed our classroom and restricted access to our reading room. Materials are not permitted to leave the reading room. Self-service scanning, photography or recording is not permitted. We will be happy to work with you to identify comparable digital resources.

How to Request Instruction

We ask all faculty interested in instruction to please email Outreach Librarian, Allison McKittrick at amckittrick@utk.edu by the first day of classes, Wednesday, January 20 to plan for and schedule your sessions. Because of limited staffing and limited access to resources due to COVID, we will not be able to take requests after that date. In your email, please include:

• Name
• Department
• Course
• Description of relevant course topic or assignment (please attach syllabus and assignment)
• If an ENG102 instructor, please specify what digital collections you would be interested in having your students research (please see below for information on ENG102 instruction)
• At least two preferred dates and times for instruction if interested in synchronous Zoom session
• Any additional information about learning objectives for the session

We will do our best to accommodate your choice of date and time, but please understand that we may not be able to guarantee your preferences. If instruction occurs synchronously through Zoom, course instructors are expected to attend the sessions with their classes. If you are an ENG102 instructor, please visit our 102 Instruction page for more information before sending your email.

Hours and Contact Information

• We are available Monday through Friday, from 9:00 to 5:30, by phone or email. 

If you have questions, please email Allison McKittrick, Assistant Librarian for Special Collections Outreach at amckittrick@utk.edu or the Special Collections Reference Desk at special@utk.edu. We are happy to help.