Much of our Map Collection is cataloged, which means you can search OneSearch using keywords, format, location (in the libraries), etc. to view holdings and find where they are located. This video (originally made for a class, Salish Sea Studies 201) shares some tips on how to generate keywords and use OneSearch filters to find maps in the catalog:
Once you have call numbers for the maps that you are interested in, visit the Circulation Services desk in Haggard Library and ask for help accessing the Map Collection.
Drawers in the main Map Collection are marked with call number ranges. You can browse a folder based on geographic location. To locate the appropriate drawer and folder, set up a research consultation or refer to Library of Congress [LOC] documentation.
4251 - Washington subject
4282 - Washington regions, natural features
4283 - Washington counties
4284 - Washington cities and towns
A research guide to cartographic resources: print and electronic sources
The Map Collection houses a wide variety of resources including topographic maps of the western United States and Canada, nautical and aeronautical charts, globes, and gazetteers. We also have many other types of maps (physical, political, geologic, climatic, road, etc.) from all over the world.
Maps include:
WWU is a part of the Federal Depository Library Program. That means the U.S. government sends us publications for free - including maps - and Western is required to make them available to the general public. There are over 1,000 federal depository libraries and they are all marked with the eagle logo. (Northwest Indian College in Whatcom County is another one.)
The Libraries own more than 1,000 atlases. You can find them in the catalog under the Subject heading Atlases. In many cases, library users can answer questions of a geographic nature by referring to an atlas first, rather than trying to retrieve a sheet map of a particular area.
Islands in the Salish Sea : a community atlas
Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
Western's collection of approximately 32,000 aerial photographs can be found at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, located in the Goltz-Murray Archives building. Emphasis is on the Puget Sound Region, especially Whatcom County, but there are representative sets from different areas of the United States.
