The Department of Special Collections aims to develop its local history collections, acquiring bibliographic resources that will be significant assets in the study and teaching of the cultural heritage of the surrounding area. The focus of Special Collections is on the history of Tyler and Smith County and, as appropriate, spreading out to include the region of Northeast Texas.

The Department of Special Collections also reserves the right to collect unique items of broader cultural or historical significance on a case-by-case basis. Items of interest currently include some fine examples of nineteenth-century publishers' bindings, a seventeenth-century illuminated manuscript, and an eighteenth-century German Elector Bible with engravings of Martin Luther and various German electors.