The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the largest and richest public research libraries in North America. Most of our 24 million items are paper and books, including medieval manuscripts, a large number of ancient books and early printed books, literary manuscripts, maps and atlases, printed materials, printed books of various sizes and types and other paper items. University libraries are committed to maintaining and enhancing their ability to handle and protect their important paper collections, and most of the investments related to protection and preservation are focused on protecting their rare, unique and valuable items.