There are many famous, well-known special collections built with unique and valuable materials in the libraries all around the world. These special collections are very important for the public and especially for the researchers. Digital access and the Web have altered the landscape of special collections and allowed increasing numbers of users to locate and access rare and valuable materials of special collections. This change has also affected libraries with the responsibility of building and managing special collections. The goal of this paper is to provide readers with insight into the culture of the special collection and to suggest good ideas for public libraries to build their special collections by introducing the special collection building cases in USA and Korea through investigating the public library websites.