A Guide to the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections

Requesting rare books and research collections by email

Please contact us ahead of your visit by emailing us at archives@mcmaster.ca.

For a book request you will need to provide us with the following information: 

• Title
• Author
• Call Number

Unlike other areas in the library, the Research Collections' shelves are not browsable. The best way to discover the texts in our holdings is to navigate the McMaster University Library Catalogue. We suggest that you look for your book using the Advanced Search function of the catalogue. Remember to select the "Archives and Research Collections (Mills Lower Level)" in order to limit your results to texts found in our Research Collections.

Requesting archival material in person

It is not necessary to email ahead of time (although it is recommended), but if you are requesting material at our reference desk, keep in mind that it might not be available right away.