University of Guelph Library
Research in topics that require archival resources or special collections can be both challenging and rewarding. Searching can be difficult because often there are not detailed subject listings. Archives and collections usually are not arranged by subject, but by the agencies or individuals who created them or brought items together for a particular purpose. Your own preparation and questions are very important. The more information you have about your topic the more focused your search will be.
The primary tool for identifying rare books, special and archival collections at the University of Guelph is the library's TRELLIS online catalogue, shared with the Universities of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier. For some archival or rare collections, individual items have been catalogued and entered in the system separately; other collections have a single record in TRELLIS with a link to a finding aid (Adobe Reader required) that has more detail. You can use TRELLIS to:
- Search for and request records for use in our reading room;
- Search for information about archives, collections, creators and depositors;
- Modify your search if it returns too many records; sort your results;
- Print, email, save, or add your search results to the 'favourites' folder on your library account.
Searching the TRELLIS Catalogue
The best way to find our holdings is to do an "advanced search" where you combine keywords; combining keyword searches are useful because you can narrow your search and get fewer, more pertinent results. On the advanced search page, you can enter keywords in three different fields, joining them with Boolean operators — and, or, not — and using drop-down menus to further specify your search parameters.
Often, the name of the collection is catalogued as its author. So, in the example above, if we wanted costume sketches just from the Shaw Festival, we search in the "author name" field rather than simply the "keyword anywhere" field. Setting additional search limits can be useful; for example, you can limit to resources in the Archives, specify the date, the medium or the item type. To set limits, click the "all search limits" button in the lower right corner. (Note: click on "all search limits" before you enter your search terms.
For further help with TRELLIS, there are tutorials available on the Library Web site.
Browsing a Collection
If you want an overview of what a collection contains, start by locating that collection's title in the catalogue. For example, a search for "Great Canadian Theatre Company" takes you to a list of author headings:
Tip: the catalogue heading for an entire collection is often followed by "University of Guelph" in parentheses. Look for archival terms in the heading like collection, archives, or fonds. The "Great Canadian Theatre Company Archives" heading has 174 titles attached to it, a good clue that it is the main heading for this collection. Clicking on the 174 link will take you to a list of the items in the collection. You can also redo the search with a limit placed to return only items in "Guelph McLaughlin Archives."
Materials in Storage Annex
Because of space constraints, about half of Archival and Special Collections' materials are located off-site and must be requested by users. TRELLIS catalogue records for item stored externally say "Annex" in the Location field. Use the "request item from TRELLIS" option to place a hold and have items brought to the library. This takes approximately one business day. You can also use materials at the TUG Annex facility itself, by making an appointment — please call 1-800-597-8016 or 519-821-7946, or e-mail