Materials from and about Bulgaria appear throughout the collections and divisions of the Library of Congress, including in the many special format and subject collections. In this guide we attempt to give a brief overview of the kinds of materials related to Bulgaria found in these special collections. All inquiries about special collections materials should be directed to the specific reading rooms referenced on each page of the guide, because this guide is not at all comprehensive.

Although the Library of Congress Online Catalog is the first place to look for special collections materials, many uncataloged materials can be found with the assistance of reference staff in the reading rooms. For example, the Geography and Maps Reading Room, in addition to many cataloged maps, has 300 uncataloged maps for Bulgaria. The Prints and Photographs Reading Room holds an uncataloged collection of Bulgarian prints produced by Bulgarian artists active in the 1980s.

Some special collections reading rooms need to be consulted not because their materials are uncataloged, but rather because their materials can be served to researchers only in their reading rooms, such as Bulgarian films in the Moving Image Resource Center or music recordings in the Recorded Sound Research Center or the American Folklife Center.

Also included in the section for special collections is a description of various Bulgarian materials in the custody of the European Reading Room, either in its reference collection for Bulgaria or as part of its special collections.