The Map Collection

The Map Collection has about 250,000 sheets. We attempt to have medium-scale coverage (1:250,000 or 4 miles to the inch) of all land areas of the world. In addition, we collect national atlases, geologic maps, street maps of large or often-visited cities, and gazetteers. We receive virtually all maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey. These include the nearly 60,000 sheets of topographic maps which make up the most detailed published maps of the country. We have many maps from the Army Map Service and its successors (the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA), National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)), and nautical charts from the Office of Coast Survey, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The library tries to obtain all published maps on Utah and nearby areas for either the Map Collection or Special Collections. The library owns some satellite imagery of Utah, but very few aerial photographs.

Finding Maps

Search the online catalog to see what we own. An advanced keyword search is often the most effective since one seldom knows the exact name of a map or cartographer.

     title keyword:          salt lake city
     subject keyword:     maps
     general keyword:    2002

If you don't find anything under the geographic name you have used, try a more inclusive name. Maps are often published as large sheets or sets, and the area you want may be covered on a map of a broader area, e.g. berkeley to alameda county to san francisco metropolitan area. Publishers feel that the market or audience for thematic maps is limited, therefore subject maps may not exist for many areas. National and state atlases are good sources of specialized subject maps.

Finding Us

The Map Collection is located on Level One of the Marriott Library. The collection is available all hours the library is open. Most maps may be checked out like books at Circulation.

For more information about the Map Collection contact Ken Rockwell at the Science & Engineering Library (801) 581-8324,
or call the Science & Engineering Reference Desk at 581-7533.

Links to Other Map Resources

The Electronic Map Library from the Department of Geography at California State University, Northridge
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
TerraServer USA, detailed aerial photographs (in either black & white or color) of the entire United States, from Microsoft
Google maps
Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) from the U.S. Geological Survey

A comprehensive collection of digitized Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps covering the period 1867-1970 is available by subscription from UMI at http://sanborn.umi.com/. For those whose library has not subscribed (as is the case here) we provide links to some sites where local or statewide collections of Sanborn maps have been made freely available:

Science & Engineering Library
Tel. 801-581-7533
address comments to: Michael Noe or Robert Behra
Last Updated: April 2008