Services

Access to Materials

In most libraries, researchers can walk through the stacks (bookshelves) and can browse for items.

Students, faculty, visiting scholars, researchers, and members of the general public are welcome to consult material in the Rare Books and Special Collections  reading room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

To browse and search for holdings, researchers use the UBC Library Catalogue and archival descriptions in finding aids and indexes. Inventories (in both paper and on-line format), research guides, and on-line databases are also available. Once you’ve located your item(s) of interest, you request materials. The collections are non-circulating and are used only in designated reading rooms.

Materials must be handled with care. Please do not mark them or erase existing marks. When taking notes, use only pencil – accidental ink-marks can be caused by even the most careful patrons, and marks from pens cannot be removed from materials without damaging them. Also, please do not use paper-clips, tape, “Post-It” notes, or rubber bands. As in most other areas of the Library, eating, drinking, and smoking are not allowed.

New users  should be aware that Rare Books and Special Collections is a closed-stack area. Browsing is not permitted, and all materials are non-circulating. Exceptions may be made for offices or persons requiring the use of material which they have transferred or donated to the Rare Books and Special Collections, provided they receive prior approval. Please contact Katherine Kalsbeek, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, for more information.

Registration

All researchers must fill out a registration form. The form should be filled out during the researcher’s first visit. The following identification will be requested upon each visit.

Researchers:

• affiliated with UBC should use their UBC Library Card
• unaffiliated with UBC must register for a RBSC Community Card
• present staff with two piece of identification (e.g, Driver’s License) while consulting materials

Service Limits on Research

Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) staff are available to assist researchers in locating archival or published material, to advise on research questions and to carry out copying requests. To contact a RBSC staff member, please see our directory.

Requests from researchers of a librarian or archivist to conduct in-depth research fall outside the scope of work we are able to carry out. For example, we are unable to accept requests to search archival fonds or collections for all material related to a person/subject area or date range. Similarly, we are unable to carry out copying requests that do not indicate specific items/files in an archival collection. If you are not able to come to RBSC yourself, you may wish to hire an independent consultant to conduct research on your behalf.

The following links are intended to help you locate a researcher. (Please be aware that RBSC cannot guarantee the work of the service providers listed here.)

Independent research consultants

• BC Archives – Independent Service Agent Register  Listing of researchers located in Victoria and the Lower Mainland area along with notes about their subject specialties.
• VPL – InfoAction  Fee-based division of Vancouver Public Library that “provides research on any subject.”
• Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet: Alphabetical Index of Professional and Volunteer Research Services  A long list of links to researchers, mainly genealogists, some in Canada/BC but most throughout the US and England.