To answer the question, one needs to consider whether special collections are any more special today than they have been in the past. The question has particularly intrigued me since I was asked to present a paper in November 1976 as part of the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Library Science Colloquium Series, to wit ��What�s So Special about Special Collections¿?� My perspective was that of a university administrator with line responsibility for one of the great Latin American collections in the world, the most comprehensive collection of Texas-related materials in existence, very young area collections of . . .