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RMA Reading Room

RMA Reading Room visits are by appointment only. 
RMA also continues to provide remote research support. Please email us at archives@concordia.ca with requests or to make an appointment. 

User Guidelines:

  • Hours of operation: Monday to Thursday, 9:00am - 11:30am and 1:30pm - 4:00 pm. This will allow staff the time required to clean and disinfect the premises and materials.
  • User appointments are mandatory. 
  • One user is permitted in the research room at a time. To book an appointment, please write to archives@concordia.ca
  • Users must book half-day research periods.
  • Users are requested sanitize their hands with provided disinfectant and place all belongings in a locker before entering. Laptops, cell phones, and notebooks will be permitted in the research room.
  • RMA staff will guide and support users in applying all mandatory procedures.

Records Management and Archives collects, processes, preserves, and provides access to private archival fonds and collections related to the history of the University or collections containing documents that support the research activities of the academic programs of the University, including the documents of faculty, staff members, and research centres.
 

  • Archival documents must be consulted on-site. RMA provides limited access to documents via email and telephone;
  • Requests will be answered within 5 working days. Users will be informed of any delay;
  • The majority of our holdings are available at all times. Please note, however, that some documents are restricted due to personal, libelous, or defamatory content, or because a donor has requested a restriction for a specified period of time.

  • RMA is located on Concordia University's Sir George Williams campus, in the Faubourg Building, 1250 Guy Street (metro Guy-Concordia);
  • The RMA Reading Room is open to internal and external users: Concordia faculty, students, staff, and the general public;
  • RMA Technician, Olivier Bisaillon-Lemay assists users in-person. Users are required to make an appointment prior to visiting. Please email archives@concordia.ca.
  • Users are required to come to their research appointment with background information and a clear purpose for their research project;
  • Users must familiarize themselves with the Reading Room rules listed below before visiting RMA. 

To ensure the long-term preservation of archival documents, all users of the Research Room are required to follow the following rules:

  1. Leave coats, parcels, briefcases, and related personal belongings at the foyer coat rack. Keep with you only what you need to take notes;
  2. Use pencils only; 
  3. Electronic devices are permitted;
  4. Users are not permitted to connect personal electronic devices, USBs, or external hard drives to any RMA workstation equipment;
  5. Mobile phone ringers must be turned off. Please answer incoming calls outside of the unit;
  6. Food or beverages are not permitted;
  7. No documents are to be removed from the research area;
  8. Do not annotate or otherwise mark or soil documents;
  9. Use only one box of materials at a time;
  10. Maintain order; do not mix or reclassify documents;
  11. Immediately report any accident with or damage to a document to the staff.

 

Handling of documents

  • Handle the enclosure or the container rather than the documents;
  • Do not lean on documents or archival boxes;
  • Do not place note pads or electronic equipment on top of documents;
  • Replace documents you are not using into file folders and boxes;
  • Realign all papers in a folder manually before returning a folder to a box;
  • Do not use a wet finger to advance from one page to the next.

Copy services provided by RMA include photcopying and digital scanning of documents and reproduction of AV materials.

Digital files are transferred by RMA staff to users via email or WeTransfer. Users are not permitted to connect personal electronic devices (including USBs and external hard drives) to RMA workstation equipment. 

 

  • Users must receive permission from RMA staff before making a copy of any RMA document. In most cases, a user agreement must be signed;
  • Materials deemed fragile by RMA may not be copied;
  • RMA staff will make all copies for users and RMA reserves the right to limit the number of copies;
  • Before ordering a copy, please consult the Price list, below; 
  • All copies must be made within the limitations of the Canadian Copyright Act (please consult the Concordia Library Copyright Guide for assistance with the Act). Users are responsible for securing copyright clearance where required;
  • Photography is permitted for scholarly or personal use only. Permission to photograph is dependent on copyright, the condition of the item, and donor agreements. Photography must fall within the guidelines outlined by the University Secretariat (related to the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information). Please consult the guidelines for more information;
  • Flash photography is not permitted;
  • Tripods, lighting, and other equipment may not be used.

 

PLEASE NOTE: As stated above, all copies must be made within the limitations of the Canadian Copyright Act. Records Management and Archives disclaims any liability for any act or omission on the part of the user. 

Prices are not negotiable.

RMA reserves the right to limit the number of copies. 

Digital files will be transferred to users via email or WeTransfer. 

 

Scanning Fees

Format 0-50
Images
51-100
Images
101+
Images
Low resolution - 300 dpi or lower, format: .jpg $ 10 / image $ 7.50 / image
$ 5 / image
High resolution - 600 dpi and higher, format: .jpg, .tiff, .png $ 15 / image $ 11.50 / image $ 7.50 / image
   

Prices mentioned above are per image or per document page.

User fees

Use Price  
Scholarly publication and exhibition Scanning fees only  
Commercial publication (book, magazine) Scanning fees + $ 15 / image  
Audiovisual use, film production and other commercial use Scanning fees + $ 50 / image  

An image user agreement must be signed.

Other fees

Other Fees Price
Reproduction of audiovisual documents (film or sound recording)
$ 1 / minute*
Commercial fees of audiovisual documents (film or sound recording)
$ 10 / minute*
Shipping fees $ 1 / envelope + Canada Post shipping fees

An image user agreement must be signed.

  • Credit card
  • Online banking e-transfer

RMA is committed to processing orders within 5 business days. A member of our team will contact you in the event of a delay.

 

  • All copying is done by RMA staff and within the limitations set out in the Copyright Act;
  • Prices are in Canadian dollar (CAD);
  • Prices are subject to change without notice;
  • Fees and taxes are not charged to internal users for projects related to Concordia University. Concordia University students are not charged user fees and taxes for projects related to their studies (valid student ID is required);
  • Applicable taxes will be added for external users.

 

 

Citing archival material

A full citation is required when an archival source is quoted or paraphrased and must include the following:
  • Title of the file / item
  • Name of fonds / collection
  • Item Reference code indicated in the Archives Catalog
  • Name of the Repository. Geographic location is optional
  • Link to the archival description in the Archives Catalog is also optional

Example: Oscar Peterson Hall Inauguration, Instructional and Information Technology Services fonds, Item I0175-09-0021 Concordia University Records Management and Archives, Montreal, QC. Link to item: https://concordia.accesstomemory.org/oscar-peterson-hall-inauguration.

 

 

Extensive online research resources are available on the RMA Research Tools page.
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