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THE LIBRARY COLLECTION: AT THE HEART OF THE INSTITUTE |
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 | | Arthur Manvell - the Honorary Librarian at the RCMI |
By David S. McDonough This article, edited for content, originally appeared in SITREP, Vol 64, No. 3 (July/August 2004). The Institute continues to implement an ambitious program, to re-position itself and to revitalize and accelerate its activities. A key component of that program is the RCMI Library, which has its humble beginnings in the donation of 200 volumes from the late Militia Institute. Over the years, donations of various sizes (from single volumes to the 1925 donation of 700 volumes by the George T. Denison estate) gradually increased the size of the Library. In 1910, the Library had nearly 5,000 volumes. Today, the Library has grown to become the largest privately maintained library in Canada, with nearly 30,000 volumes, including bound military and military association periodicals, training and technical manuals, and Service magazines. In comparison, the two world-renowned institutes in the UK, the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), have library acquisitions of 21,000 and 14,000 volumes respectively. Attention has been paid, not only to the size of the Library, but also to the quality of its collections, which range from historical documents to newly acquired books. Book topics range from Roman and Napoleonic military history, to analysis of more contemporary conflicts in South America, South Africa, Korea, and the Middle East. Among the most notable items: official histories for the Boer, First and Second World War from various participants (including Canada, Britain, and the US); large sections on army, navy and air force history, technology, weaponry, and strategy; a 125 volume set of US Civil War Despatches; a French language section, with books on fortifications and the Napoleonic Wars; a collection of Champlain and Hudson Bay Societies' books (earlier explorers were often military personnel); and a list of army, navy, and air force officers, some dating back to the 1740s, alongside Canadian Militia lists dating back to 1860. |
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One of the principal aims of the Institute's founders was "to accumulate a library of works pertaining to Canadian Military History, and to Military Subjects generally." In the current collection, we have a corpus of military history and knowledge that is used by a wide variety of scholars, including candidates at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. The library itself is a superb room conducive to study and research. Several hundred researchers use the facilities each year and numerous telephone queries are handled daily. |
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Future Projects As part of its effort to improve the quality of its activities, the Institute initiated the Library Catalogue Project to raise the RCMI Library's extensive collection of books and documents to meet contemporary Research Library standards. When completed, this project will improve the accessibility of the Library to members for their personal research, and to the larger academic and research community in Canada. |
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To increase our online profile, as well as to increase the availability of Library resources to members and scholars, the Institute is currently planning to undertake two further projects – the Heritage Papers series of publications and "The RCMI Virtual Galleries" project. The Heritage Papers would provide for the publication of previously un-published documents in the RCMI Archives. This would be made available for interested members and scholars on our website. The first step in this project has already begun with the initiation of the "The Search for Colonel Turner" Heritage Research Project. |
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"The RCMI Virtual Galleries" project would allow items from the contents of the collections (of the Library and the Museum), especially those too frail for casual handling, to be made available in an on-line digital form. In order to gauge the financial costs and difficulty of this project, an experimental digitization of "The History of the 6th LAA Regiment," one of the manuscripts in the RCMI Archives (related to the history of certain Canadian artillery units during the Second World War) is currently being planned. |
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In Conclusion
The RCMI Library is a research institution that is available, under certain conditions, to anyone wishing to make use of its resources for projects, scholarly research, or university assignments and theses. Anyone with an interest in military affairs and history is certainly welcome to use the Library. Members may borrow books at any time the building is open. Non-members may use the facility by prior arrangement with the librarian. Arthur Manvell, the RCMI Honorary Librarian, is frequently on hand to answer questions as to available or potential sources, and to suggest potential avenues of research. |
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The Library is administered by a Library Committee made up of 12 RCMI members. In order to improve its already significant resources, the Library Committee is receptive to donations of books on military-related subjects (whether they be single items, collections, or from estates). Given the limited size of the Library’s holdings, and the constant need to update its collection, the RCMI does hold biennial book auctions to raise funds for new library purchases and to make room for new acquisitions. |
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As pointed out by Colonel A. E. Kirkpatrick in 1940, "to see a University Professor spending hours and days of his time poring through volumes in our magnificent library, finding there material for historical writing unavailable elsewhere is in itself an inspiration, and paints a picture of that library in the future, greatly enlarged, with a permanent staff, and a mecca where students and literary men of the future can secure information and facts for the education and enlightenment of generations yet unborn." (1) |
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The Library clearly provides the foundation for research at the Royal Canadian Military Institute. We hope that our short and long-term policies, by making its ample resources more easily available to members and researchers alike, will ensure that the Library remains at the heart of Institute activities for many years to come. |
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Notes:
1. Colonel A. E. Kirkpatrick, "What of the Future?" Selected Papers: From the Transactions of the Institute 1940-41, 23-24. (Original copies of the RCMI Selected Papers are part of the Library collection.) |
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Click on the thumbnails below for more views of the library. |
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All content © 2006. The Royal Canadian Military Institute.
426 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1S9. Tel: 416-597-0286. Fax: 416-597-6919. |
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