The Special Collection Department of the Public Library „George Baritiu”- Brasov was established in 1981. The main collection, consisting of old and rare books and manuscripts, was initially formed by taking over the collection of the former library called ASTRA. Later, it was enriched by acquisitions and donations.

The department preserves documents, organised in book funds as follows:
• Romanian old books (1502-1830) and in 13 foreign languages– Latin, Greek, English, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, Hebrew, Turkish etc.;
• manuscripts and documents;
• periodicals, among them „Transylvania Gazette “ and „Foaie pentru minte, inima si literatura“;
• a collection of old maps;
• a collection of illustrated postcards from Brasov and Barsa Region;
• a collection of ex-libris most of them donated by Emil I. Bologa ;
• a collection of photography.

The department has got the following catalogues:
• the alphabetical catalogue, organised chronologically on subjects, for the manuscripts
• the alphabetical and chronological catalogue for the foreign old books
• the chronological catalogue for the old Romanian books. In the future new databases will be organised.

In the Romanian and foreign old books collection some precious copies could be remarked:
• the oldest printed work in our collection is Dicta et facta memorabilia, by Valerius Maximus, printed in 1502 in Venice by te editor Aldus Manutius;
• the oldest printed work from Brasov in the collection of our department is The New Testament, a Greek and Latin bilingual edition, published in 1557, in Brasov, through the good offices of Valentin Wagner;
• our collection includes Romanian old books printed in different cities: Carte romaneasca de invatatura (Iasi, 1643), Indreptarea legii (Targoviste, 1652), Evanghelie greco-romana (Bucuresti, 1693) a.o.;
• The foreign old books were printed in well-know European cultural cities: Venice, Paris, Basel, Lyon, Rome etc. And there are copies printed by prestigious editors and printers like Aldus Manutius, Jean Petit, Johannes Frobenius, Christophorus Plantinus, Robertus Stephanus a.o.;
• of special patrimony value are the religious works, remarkable because of their rarity: Apostol (the 14th century), Invataturi monahale si pateric (the 15th century), Psaltire (the end of the 16th century), written in Slavonic, and also Octoihul slavo-roman (the 16th century).

The readers’ access to the patrimony collections of the department is limited by the age – at least 18 years old – and conditioned by their education, the knowledge of the old languages, the aim of the work they intend to write and the norms and regulations to be respected.