Services | Circulation Policy | Equipment

Services
The Map Section supports the basic research and instructional needs of UIC by making accessible a cartographic materials collection of maps, atlases, aerial photographs, digital geospatial data, and a small collection of map-related reference books. Besides meeting the scholarly and curricular needs of faculty, students and staff, the collection also serves local college and university personnel, the local business community, and the general public. As a member of the Earth Science Information Center (ESIC) network the Map Section provides public information on the cartographic and earth science products of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Reference and information services are available in person (appointments recommended), by telephone, and by email. Group orientation and bibliographic instruction are available by appointment. Please send us email to lib-maps@uic.edu.

*Genealogical Research Support*
The staff of the Map Section is available to provide basic reference services for genealogical research, such as assisting patrons to look up places in gazetteers or to check historical boundary and name changes of places using historical atlases, but we do not undertake extensive research for genealogists. Also, it should be remembered that the UIC Library's map section holds relatively new cartographic materials (i.e. most maps were published after 1900) and also mostly small-scale maps (i.e. maps covering a relatively large region/area, and thus they may not provide the level of detail needed for genealogical research), except for the United States Geological Survey's historical large-scale topographic map series. Thus, patrons may not find the maps that they need to identify their ancestry's birth places in a foreign country from our collection. Genealogists who are looking for large-scale foreign maps may need to contact a map library that holds extensive collection of historical cartographic materials. Please consult us for more information on other map collections. Genealogists doing much U.S. research may want to visit the Newberry Library in Chicago first, which has extensive genealogical collections in the U.S. General research support for Chicago genealogy is also available at the UIC Library Special Collection , and at the Chicago Historical Society Research Center.

Good Tips!
Using Maps in Genealogy - by U.S. Geological Survey PDF | HTML

Circulation Policy
Circulation privileges are available to individuals who are a part of the University of Illinois community. Material may also be loaned to local business and public libraries, for in library use only, but are not loaned directly to individuals from outside firms or other libraries. 

Circulation policy also may vary depending on the type of materials. Most atlases and maps circulate for one week. Atlases may be charged out at the Main Library Circulation Desk (1st floor south) and circulating maps may be charged out at the Documents and Maps Service Desk (3rd floor center). Computer discs (CD/DVDs) do not circulate.

Equipment
A photo copier is available for public use, and is located on the same floor next to the stairs (between the atlas shelves and the government document shelves). For more information, please visit the Library's photocopying service website.

The library does not yet have other equipment available for public use. An equipment wish list to serve better the needs of cartographic material users includes a large-format scanner and a large format plotter. We welcome donations of such equipment. Contact: lib-maps@uic.edu.