Library Abuzz With 2018 Homecoming Tours & Resources

McGill Library has planned a fun mix of tours for McGill Homecoming (Thursday October 11 – Saturday, October 13). Discover (and interact with!) our extraordinary collections. From rare books and special collections to archives and visual arts, it will be a feast for the senses. All activities are listed below in chronological order. They are FREE and some require registration.

We look forward to welcoming you back to McGill and the Library!

Tour | One-hour tour of Rare Books and Special Collections, Osler Library Collections and McGill University Archives

From historic manuscripts to artworks and photographs, don’t miss this amazing opportunity to see McGill’s unique treasures up-close with experts on-hand to provide history and context.

Friday, October 12 from 10:00 to 11:00am

Meet in the lobby of the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9

No registration required

Tour | Public Art at McGill

Join us for a one hour tour of the public art on McGill’s downtown campus. See works by renowned Canadian and international artists from our permanent collection. Come rain or shine!

Friday, October 12 from 11:00am to noon

Meet at the information desk of the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9

Click here to register

Tour | One-hour tour of Rare Books and Special Collections, Osler Library Collections and McGill University Archives

From historic manuscripts to artworks and photographs, don’t miss this amazing opportunity to see McGill’s unique treasures up-close with experts on-hand to provide history and context.

Saturday, October 13 from 1:00 to 2:00pm

Meet in the lobby of the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9

No registration required

Library services for alumni

•  Alumni can sign up for a FREE McGill Library Borrowing Card*. Register now to borrow books and other print materials from the McGill Library.
• Access special e-resources through a searchable catalogue dedicated specifically to alumni. Start exploring McGill Alumni E-Resources* now!

Learn more about other exciting events and initiatives for alumni here.

*restrictions may apply

Online offerings

Can’t make it to Homecoming in-person? No worries. We’ve got tons of electronic resources to help you stroll down memory lane from wherever you are!

• New! Horae: Collection of Books of Hours: Features Books of Hours in both manuscript and printed form, spanning several centuries from Rare Books and Special Collections at the McGill Library. In the 1920s and 1930s, Gerhard R. Lomer, one of McGill University’s first librarians, launched an innovative project to create a small museum of the book inside the library open to the general public, to present a brief history of manuscript and printed books as well as the iconography through the centuries. A number of Books of Hours were acquired for this museum as were single leaves and miniatures. Later donations of several Books of Hours added to the Library’s holdings.The launch of the collection coincides with Resplendent Illuminations: Books of Hours from the 13^th to the 16^thCentury in Quebec Collections, an exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts co-curated by our recently retired Rare Books and Special Collections colleague, Dr. Richard Virr. 

• Old McGill Yearbooks: A rich resource for family researchers and historians alike, this slice of McGill’s history provides a unique view of student life, learning and research. Browse through the years (1898 – 2000) or enter a name. Explore Old McGill memories and stories told through photographs, drawings, letters, poetry, song, and so much more. Access them at http://yearbooks.mcgill.ca/.

• Highlights from the McGill Library these and dissertation collection: Did you know that 135 years of McGill graduate scholarship is available to be viewed online? Explore highlights from our theses and dissertation collection at www.mcgill.ca/library-theses to read work by notable McGill graduates. Do you know someone who wrote a thesis at McGill? More than 41,902 theses are now available for viewing at escholarship.mcgill.ca. We invite you to go search and lose yourself down the rabbit hole. Found something cool? Connect with us to share and you might just find it featured on the website!

• Student Publications: With 140 years of student produced content, covered in 9,868 issues in eighteen unique papers, the student publications at McGill has a rich history. Student publications include widely disseminated student newspapers written and published by students on both the downtown and Macdonald campuses, covering the events, daily life, and opinions of students. From lofty intellectualism of nineteenth century McGill publications, to the anti-war resistance of 1960s The McGill Daily issues, the student papers at McGill shifted greatly in content and scope. However, what these publications do share is the virtue of revealing not only the lives of McGill students, but also that of a young residents of Montreal, Canada, and the larger world. All issues are available to search and download through the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/mcgilluniversitystudentpublications. You may also want to access this great blog post written by guest contributor and student Annelise Dowd for a brief history of student publications.

• McGill Rare Instagram Account: Started by four McGill librarians in February 2016, the McGill_Rare Instagram account now has a following of over 5,000 individuals and institutions who love the behind-the-scenes glimpse at all things rare and beautiful. The collective makes it their mission to share a diversity of materials that represent many subjects and collections at McGill. From Islamic calligraphy to tiny children’s books, the Instagram posts generate user questions about the library’s rare holdings and digital collections, a dialogue that benefits both the librarians and the audience. The posts are thoughtfully curated to match themes, events, anniversaries, and collective Instagram hashtag “challenges” such as #ManuscriptMonday, #Canadiana150 and #styleinthestacks.