Name: Introduction to U of G's Archival & Special Collections | Videos | Gan Jing World
Uploaded: 2023-03-19T18:41:05.371Z
Duration: 4 min 39 s
Description: Link to the accessible transcript: https://learningcommons.lib.uoguelph.ca/item/introduction-u-g%E2%80%99s-archival-special-collections Become familiar with Ar... | Videos | Gan Jing World

U of G Library

https://video5-us-west.cloudokyo.cloud/video/v5/a0/df/f2/a0dff2d7-039e-41c1-8234-4cec273c0115/master.m3u8

Link to the accessible transcript: https://learningcommons.lib.uoguelph.ca/item/introduction-u-g%E2%80%99s-archival-special-collections

Become familiar with Archival & Special Collections by visiting our website: https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/

Curtis Sassur: Guelph's Archival and Special Collections is a repository of our rare books and non-circulating archival research material. Within those collections, we have a really nice collection of rare and valuable old books, as well as several areas of collecting focus for primary source research material.
Ashley Shifflett McBrayne: We collect many formats. They can include the personal papers of individuals and companies, as well as technical drawings, photography, audio-visual materials, and ephemera, among other things.
Curtis: Here in the Archival and Special Collections at Guelph, we have several areas of collecting focus. The Lucy Maud Montgomery collection, related to that famous author, we have a rural and agricultural focus, which relates to the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College roots. We also have numerous collections related to landscape architecture. One of my favorite collections in that area is the Stanley Thompson fond related to many of the beautiful golf courses he designed in North America. We also have a collecting focus on early campus history related to the University of Guelph, but also our antecedent institutions, the Ontario Agricultural College and Macdonald Hall.
Ashley: We have a wonderful collection of Scottish materials, related to both Scottish highland and lowland early history. Within our rare book collection, we have a focus specifically on culinary books and cookbooks, and we have a wonderful collection of vernacular cookbooks specific to Canadian regions, as well as published cookbooks. We also have a wonderful collection related to the Canadian theater scene with fonds and primary source material related to several important, large and small Canadian theaters
Ashley: In Archival and Special Collections, we have a number of spaces that can be used. We have the reading room, which is where researchers can access the items that they'd like to see, we also have a seminar room, which can accommodate a smaller group or a smaller class, and we have a larger space that can accommodate up to 150 people. We have a beautiful exhibit gallery that we use for experiential learning programs, where students and faculty can curate physical exhibits using items from Archival and Special Collections.
Curtis: Guelph's Archival and Special Collections is here primarily for the Guelph community. That includes both the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, we're here to support them in whatever research endeavours they may be looking at. We're also here to support Guelph's faculty, both with their research and also with classroom support and outreach. We are also here for members of the community that do not have Guelph affiliation, whether they are local, regional, national, or international, if they are researchers whose interests intersect with our collections.
Ashley: Having access to these rare and one-of-a-kind resources is that's the primary source base of research, and so it also gives them the opportunity to tackle primary sources and learn how to analyze them and see them and hold them and connect with them in a way that is inherently different than looking at an image on a screen.
Curtis: Our guiding underlying value is that we're here to be as helpful as possible. We have a dedicated team working, digitizing our material. A common misconception that folks have is that all of our material is already digitized, when in fact, the vast majority of our material has not been digitized at this point. As a researcher, if you identify something in our collection that you'd like to have digitized, we can work with you and work through the rights issues and the technical specifications issues to get a digital file to you.
Ashley: We care very deeply about providing access as well as preserving the items.
Curtis: Our digital operations are always growing and we're always looking to digitize more and more of our collection. Ideally, we would like to be able to use this digitization work as a means to provide the most possible access to our material to the most number of people.
Curtis: We, in the Archives and Special Collections, would really like to invite our student body and members of our community to come down and explore our spaces and see what we have to offer for you.
Ashley: If you're interested in seeing what we have in our collections or getting your research project started, you can reach out to us through our website, either by booking an appointment or emailing us, and we can help you out from there.