Classes
Rare Books and Special Collections welcomes requests for class visits to the RBSC seminar rooms. Through a visit to RBSC and an experience with collections-based learning and research, your students will:
- Benefit from experiential learning through hands-on work with primary sources
- Develop research skills in finding and using primary source materials
- Learn proper handling and use of rare materials
- Understand research etiquette for future work in archives, special collections, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions
We will do our best to accommodate your preferred date and time, but we recommend booking at least one month prior to the visit in order to ensure classroom availability and enough preparation time for our staff. To book a day and time for your class visit, please complete our Instructional Support Request Form.
RBSC librarians and archivists are available to host classes, providing an introduction to our collections and tips for the safe handling of materials. We are also available suggest resources that will help support the educational goal of a single lecture or an entire course.
When considering a class visit to RBSC, please keep in mind:
- Faculty should submit their Instructional Support Request Form as soon as possible since availability is limited.
- Once we receive your request, a librarian or archivist will be in touch to confirm the request, depending on availability, as well as discuss the class visit and determine the best materials to use.
- Our seminar rooms can accommodate up to 25 students. If you have a larger class, you can book multiple sessions in RBSC to split the class into smaller groups.
- Class visits generally take place during our reading room open hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm), however accommodations can be made for classes starting earlier or running later.
- Students should complete a self-enrolled introduction to Rare Books and Special Collections on Canvas prior to their in-person visit. Students without a UBC CWL will receive an alternative Canvas course link.
- Every class will receive a standard introduction of about 20 minutes that recaps the Canvas course, answers student questions, and highlights important handling concepts.
- A finalized list of library or archival materials needed for your visit (including author / creator, title, and call number / box number) should be submitted to the librarian or archivist at least one week prior to the class.
When students arrive, they should expect to follow these class visit guidelines:
- Students should review our Handling Guidelines and thoroughly wash and dry their hands before arriving for their class visit.
- Students must bring their student I.D. or some other form of photo I.D. When they arrive, RBSC staff will ask them to exchange their I.D.s for locker keys so they can store their belongings in RBSC’s secure on-site lockers.
- All bags, coats, and personal belongings must be kept in a locker.
- RBSC provides paper and pencils for taking notes. Students may also bring in laptops (without the case) and phones to take photos.
- No food, drink, or pens are allowed in the reading room or seminar rooms.
Tours
The Chung | Lind Gallery on level 2 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre offers a free, weekly drop-in tour Wednesday afternoons at 1:30 pm.
This guided experience highlights exhibits from the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, two exceptional UBC Library collections. Featuring hundreds of objects on display, the Gallery houses Klondike Gold Rush maps, letters and photographs, alongside rare documents and artifacts related to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, early British Columbia history and the immigration and settlement of Chinese people in North America.
Drop-in tours offer visitors a chance to explore the histories represented in these collections, ask questions, and consider the ongoing relationship between past perspectives and life today. Led by Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives archivists, tours can take up to 60 minutes and begin in the Gallery foyer. No RSVP required.
To book a group tour for Rare Books and Special Collections or the Chung | Lind Gallery, email rare.books@ubc.ca.