Welcome to the new school year!

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Summer vacation is over (yes, it went really fast!) and a new school year lies ahead. Now that the weather is getting cooler and the leaves are starting to hint at color changes, we can look forward to an exciting and rewarding semester at McGill. I remember my first few days as a University student… I had a lot of trouble finding my way to the different buildings, everything was new, and there was so much to learn! Right from the start, my favorite place was the library. I quickly learned that the secret to academic success was to learn how to use the library and all the resources that it offered, and to befriend the librarians! (Some of the information that was withheld by my professors was happily shared by the library staff). So I would like to share this little piece of advice: if you spend around one hour learning about your library at the beginning of the semester, it will save you hours of your time later on. When your Professors will later start talking about the requirements for your papers – only peer review articles, citations in Chicago style, using primary sources, etc. – you will be very happy that you already know what they’re talking about!

So to get you started, we are offering tours at all the library branches, as well as Library Quick Start 101 workshops. These take place in different days and at different times, so you should have no problem finding a session that fits your busy schedule. There is also no charge for these sessions, and you don’t need to register. Just drop in whenever it’s convenient for you! In these tours and workshops you will learn essential university survival skills such as: how to reserve a study room, how to send your documents from home to be printed at McGill, how to look for your courses’ reserve reading list, who is the liaison librarian for your area of study, and much more!

Check out this link for more information: http://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/workshops

Have a wonderful and productive session!

Found in the stacks

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blogphoto

This notice was discovered recently in a book in the McLennan stacks.  No need to worry, these days if you lose or damage a library item we won’t send you to jail.  With a collection that dates back to 1855, there are all kinds of treasures to be found both in our collection and inside the books themselves.  If you come across something that you want to share, send a picture to hssl.library@mcgill.ca and it might be used in a future blog post.

A little history lesson

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Have you ever wondered why the Humanities and Social Sciences Library has so many names? Is it McLennan? Is it Redpath? Where is this Blackader everyone says is a great place to study?

The mystery lies in the history of the building. If you stand on McTavish Street and look at the entire complex, you can see how the Humanities & Social Sciences Library is actually composed of several separate building styles.

The original library was housed in what is now called Redpath Hall and was built in 1893.  In fact, you can still see Redpath Library etched in stone on the building’s exterior although it no longer functions in that manner. If you get a chance, catch a performance by students and faculty from the Schulich School of Music and imagine the room as it once was.

In the 1950s, an extension was added (this is the section of the library referred to sometimes as the “Redpath Library”), which currently houses primarily study spaces, a computer, lab, as well as the Cybertheque and cafeteria in the basement.

The library was further expanded in the 1960s when McLennan was built (the six story component that houses all of the library’s books at the corner of Sherbrooke and McTavish).

We tried to ease confusion by calling the complex (Redpath + McLennan) the Humanities and Social Sciences Library but the two separate building names have stuck.This is why however the building can feel confusing to get around some times as different sections were conceived and built in different decades.

Take a walk around and see if you can catch the architectural differences!

P.S. The elusive Blackader Lauterman is located on the third floor of the Redpath section. Take the staircase located between the men’s washroom and the new seating area.