Rare Books & Archival Collections Reference Guide

 The Reading room is open by appointment for consulting the collections held by Rare Books and Special Collections and the McGill University Archives. This is a quiet study space for readers consulting materials.

Book an appointment 10 AM – 6 PM, Monday to Thursday by emailing rarebooks.library@mcgill.ca.

Please request your material in advance.

• There are lockers and locks available, and a place to hang coats and store bags.
• Computers and silenced cell phones are welcome.
• The Reading Room is chilly, bring a sweater!
• Pencils and notebooks are welcome.
• Food and drink are not permitted in the reading room.

Our collections are searchable via two catalogs:

1. Sofia, a shared bilingual discovery tool for all academic libraries in Quebec. Search Sofia for relevant books, maps, manuscripts, subjects,  etc. See this Guide for basic and advanced search tips: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/sofia/basic-advanced
2. AtoM - An archival Collections Catalog. See this Guide for search tips: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/c.php?g=730287&p=5257621

SOFIA Tips for finding Rare Books material:

1. Refine your search results using facets, specifically these two: 

   1. Held by library 
      Limit results to Rare Books and Special Collections, Osler, or McGill University Archives as needed
   2. Format
      Limit to print books or/and manuscript material
   3.  You can ungroup editions to see all the different editions of a particular title.
2. Sort your results
   1. Sort by - sort by date (oldest first), rather than by library.

For more search tips see the Sofia guide: https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/sofia/refining

Reach out by email with question and for assistance finding items, as not all materials are listed in the catalogs.

Email: rarebooks.library@mcgill.ca

Once you've identified items of interest, request your items through the library catalog. See here for guidance: https://www.mcgill.ca/libraries/using-libraries/borrowing-mcgill/request

If you are a visiting reader and not a member of the McGill academic community, email rarebooks.library@mcgill.ca for reference, to request items, and to book your appointment.