About the Reading Room
We welcome the Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾ community and to the public. The Reading room is open by appointment for consulting the collections held by Rare Books and Special Collections and the Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾ 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 [at] mcgill.ca (rarebooks[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]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.
Please submit requests for material at least three days in advance of your visit. You will receive an email confirmation when the material is available for you. Members of the public may request material by email at rarebooks.library [at] mcgill.ca (rarebooks[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]ca).
Members of the Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾ Community may place hold requests via the . Look for the red ‘Request/Hold or Scan’ button in the top right-hand corner of the catalogue record. This will take you to a request form. See here for detailed instructions.
For Archival Materials held in Rare Books and Special Collections, consult the (AtoM). This catalogue is a searchable database of archival holdings across Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾.
- For requests and research assistance with archival materials in the Rare Books collection, email Rarebooks.library [at] mcgill.ca (rarebooks[dot]library[at]mcgill[dot]ca).
- For requests and research assistance with archival materials in the Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾ Archives, email refdesk.archives [at] mcgill.ca (refdesk[dot]archives[at]mcgill[dot]ca).
Please note:
- Some materials may require up to a week to retrieve.
- Limits will be imposed on the number of books or archival boxes that can be requested at one time.
- Not all materials can be made accessible.