Illinois State University - Milner Library

Milner Library

Milner Library contains a collection of more than 1.5 million volumes and an ever-increasing number of electronic materials accessible via the Internet to students and faculty. The library's collection is distinguished by materials related to educational theory and policy, curriculum development, and issues related to special education and assistive technology. The Special Collections include extensive Circus and Allied Arts materials and a children's literature collection that features more than 100 first edition volumes signed by author Lois Lenski. Milner Library is also a selective federal depository for government information. Combined Milner's collections contribute to the university's relatively high standing in regional, national, and world rankings. In 2007, the library received the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, an award given to only seven libraries nationwide.

Milner Library administers the Dr. Jo Ann Rayfield University Archives, which houses selected official records from university departments and organizations, faculty and student publications and local history materials including a collection from the Adlai Stevenson family. The archives also houses an Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD).

Additional library facilities include book storage both on and off-site as well as a preservation department.

The Milner Library was named for Angeline “Ange” Vernon Milner (1856–1928), a Bloomington-Normal native and the first full-time librarian of Illinois State Normal University. Milner is credited with organizing the university's initial collection of more than 40,000 items and was a prolific author of more than seventy articles and short monographs in library and education journals during her tenure as University Librarian from 1890 to 1927. The current library building, the third in the university's history, opened in 1976.