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  • Locations
      1. Birks Reading Room
        1. About the Birks Reading Room
        2. Staff
        3. Virtual tour
      2. Education Curriculum Resources Centre
        1. About
        2. Staff
        3. Virtual tour
      3. Humanities and Social Sciences Library
        1. About
        2. Activities
          1. McGill Little Free Libraries (LFL)
          2. Tabling
        3. Spaces
          1. Floor plans
          2. Self-serve reserve room
        4. Staff
        5. Virtual tour
      4. Islamic Studies Library
        1. About
        2. Staff
        3. Virtual tour
      5. Macdonald Campus Library
        1. About the Macdonald Campus Library
        2. Seed Library
          1. Seed library catalogue
          2. Register
          3. Borrow seeds
          4. Return seeds
        3. Staff
        4. Virtual tour
      6. Marvin Duchow Music Library
        1. About
        2. Audiovisual Archives of the Marvin Duchow Music Library
        3. Staff
        4. Virtual tour
      7. Nahum Gelber Law Library
        1. About the Nahum Gelber Law Library
        2. Staff
        3. Virtual tour
      8. Osler Library of the History of Medicine
        1. About William Osler
        2. About the Osler Library
        3. Awards and grants
          1. Dr. Dimitrije Pivnicki Award in Neuro and Psychiatric History
          2. Dr. Edward H. Bensley Osler Library Research Travel Grant
          3. Mary Louise Nickerson Travel Grant
          4. Michele Larose – Osler Library Artist-in-Residence Programme
          5. Molina Foundation Osler Library Medical Student Research Awards
        4. Exhibitions and lectures
        5. Friends of the Osler Library
        6. Osler Library Newsletter
        7. Staff
        8. The Pam and Rolando Del Maestro Family William Osler Medical Student Essay Awards
          1. Past winners
        9. Virtual tour
      9. Rare Books and Special Collections
        1. About
        2. Book Arts Laboratory
          1. The Presses
          2. Bibliography
          3. Contact us
        3. Copying & reproduction
        4. Key resources
        5. Reading Room
        6. Research grants
          1. McGill David Hume Research Travel Grant
            • Recipients
          2. Raymond Klibansky Collection Research Grant
            • Recipients
        7. Special collections
        8. Staff
        9. Tours and Class Visits
      10. Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering
        1. 3D Printing
          1. Regulations and Registration
        2. About
          1. Mossman Collection on the History of Science and of Ideas
        3. After-Hours Access
        4. Off-campus access to McGill Libraries' e-resources for hospital affiliates
        5. Staff
  • Using the libraries
      1. Welcome to the McGill Libraries
      2. Accessing online resources
        1. Accessing Full Text while using PubMed
        2. Common ‘how-to’ fixes for online resources
        3. E-resources in Sofia
        4. E-resources known issues and upcoming maintenance
        5. EZproxy
        6. Licensing and conditions of use
        7. Logging on to databases and resources
        8. McGill Library links in Google Scholar
      3. Art and distinctive collections
        1. Digital collections
          1. Digital exhibitions
          2. Finding aids and collection guides
          3. Digital collection data
        2. Exhibitions
        3. McGill University Archives
          1. About
            • Policies
              • Private holdings
              • Terms of Reference
          2. Archival resources
            • Accessing Archival Records
            • Archives FAQs
            • Citing Archival Sources
            • Copyright
            • Searchable databases
          3. Records management
            • General information
            • McGill University Records Retention Schedule (MURRS)
            • Transferring records
          4. Staff
          5. Virtual exhibits
            • Campus life
              • Campus life during WWII
              • Dance at McGill
              • Football
              • My Fur Lady
              • Student unrest, 1968-1970
              • Time capsule
              • Women's Union and the war effort
            • McGill facts and institutional history
              • Campus buildings
              • Convocation
              • Early campus
              • McGill songs
              • Nursing
              • Royal Victoria College
            • People
              • Abraham de Sola
              • Carrie Derick
              • Maude Abbott
              • William H. Donner
            • Virtual exhibit sites
              • Ian C. Pilarczyk's Picks
        4. Music special collections
          1. 19th Century French Sheet Music Collection
          2. Bernard Gagnon Fonds
          3. Charles Reiner Collection
          4. Collection Noël-Vallerand
          5. Dale Bartlett Collection
          6. David Edelberg/Handel Collection
          7. Donald Mackey Collection
          8. Edith and Luciano Della Pergola and the Opera McGill Collection
          9. Eric McLean Collection
          10. Gian Lyman Collection
          11. Hellmuth Wolff Organ Collection
          12. Julius Schloss Collection
          13. Kelsey Jones Collection
          14. Ladies Morning Musical Club Collection
          15. Marvin Duchow Collection
          16. Marvin Duchow Music Library Online Scores and Treatises
          17. McGill Electronic Music Studio Archive
          18. McGill Sheet Music Collection
          19. Montreal Mendelssohn Choir and Joseph Gould Collection
          20. Paul Helmer's Growing with Canada Collection
          21. Paul Pedersen Collection
          22. Pauline Donalda Collection
          23. Renaissance music Manuscripts (MSS) on microfilm at McGill
          24. Renaissance printed music on microfilm at McGill
          25. Richard Coulter Collection
          26. Roger Doucet Collection
          27. Sonde Collection
        5. Osler special collections
          1. Anatomical atlases
          2. Bibliotheca Osleriana
          3. Frank Dawson Adams Collection (geology, mineralogy, volcanology, and paleontology)
          4. Norman Bethune Collection (Osler Library Archival Collections - P156)
          5. Osler Library Almanac Collection
          6. Paris Medical Theses Collection
          7. Sir William Osler Collection
          8. Wilder Penfield Archive (P142)
        6. RBSC special collections
          1. Archival collections and manuscripts
          2. Arts and architecture
          3. Canadiana
          4. History of ideas
          5. History of the book
          6. Literature
          7. Maps
          8. Norman Friedman Boy Scout Collection
          9. Political and regional history
          10. Religious studies
          11. Social and cultural history
          12. The sciences
      4. Article/chapter scan service
      5. Borrowing from McGill Libraries
        1. Library cards, accounts, and notifications
          1. Students, permanent staff, and retirees
          2. PhD students
          3. McGill faculty
          4. Course lecturers
          5. Alumni
          6. Spouses of McGill faculty
          7. Students or faculty of a Quebec university
          8. Sponsored borrowers
          9. Other patrons eligible for borrowing cards
          10. Proxy borrowers
          11. Community members
        2. Loan policies
          1. McGill users
          2. Non-McGill users
        3. Renewals and recalls
        4. Browsing and borrowing in-person
        5. Requesting items
          1. McGill students
          2. PhD students
          3. McGill faculty and course lecturers
          4. Permanent staff
          5. Casual staff
          6. Retired faculty / staff
          7. Spouses of McGill faculty
          8. MCLL
          9. Students and faculty of Quebec universities
          10. Visiting scholars
          11. Research assistants/associates
          12. Other patrons eligible for a borrowing card
          13. Proxy borrowers
          14. Community members
        6. Returning items
        7. Overdue fines
        8. Lost and damaged items
        9. Other borrowing services
          1. Course lecturer extension
          2. Distance borrowing
          3. Faculty research card
          4. PhD extension
          5. PhD research card
      6. Borrowing from other libraries
        1. Request physical items from Quebec university libraries
        2. Borrowing in person at other universities
        3. Borrowing in person at partner libraries
      7. Citation guides & software
      8. Computers, software & equipment
        1. Authentication and network access
        2. Computing at McGill
        3. Software
        4. Workstations
      9. Course guides
      10. Course reserves & readings
        1. Electronic exams (e-exams)
      11. FAQ
      12. Health and wellness
      13. Hours
      14. Interlibrary Loan
        1. Other library catalogues
        2. ILL lending to external libraries
        3. Contact ILL
      15. Scan, print and copy
      16. Services for alumni
        1. Electronic resources for alumni
          1. Electronic Life Sciences Resources for Alumni
      17. Study areas
        1. Group study
        2. Quiet study
        3. Spaces for graduate students
          1. Application for study space (Law)
          2. Ph.D. study room (HSSL)
  • Research services
      1. Collections
      2. Digital Scholarship Hub
        1. Contact us
        2. Our team of experts
        3. Spaces & resources
        4. Workshops & events
      3. Digitization
      4. Finding data and maps
      5. Getting started
      6. Open access
        1. Article Processing Charge Support
          1. Open Access Publishing Glossary
        2. Finding legitimate OA publishers
        3. Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) Open Access Policy
        4. Get help with open access
        5. How to make your research open access
        6. McGill Libraries Principles for Funding Open Access
        7. McGill Libraries Support Open Access
        8. Open Access Statement for McGill University Library
        9. Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications
          1. Check journal compliance with Tri-Agency and FRQ open access requirements
        10. Why you should make your work open access
      7. Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)
      8. Research data services
        1. Deposit your research data
          1. McGill Dataverse
        2. Make a data management plan
      9. Scholarly publishing
        1. Current journals
        2. Starting a journal
          1. Migrate an existing journal to Open Journal Systems (OJS)
          2. Start a new journal
      10. Subject guides
        1. Agriculture & environmental sciences
        2. Education
        3. Health & biological sciences
        4. Humanities & social sciences
        5. Law
        6. Physical sciences & engineering
      11. Web Archiving
        1. Web Archiving Policy
      12. Workshops & tours
        1. Library Research Skills
        2. MyResearch graduate seminar series
      13. eScholarship@McGill Open Access Repository
        1. Contact us
        2. FAQ
        3. How to submit
          1. eScholarship Open Access Repository - Submission Form
        4. McGill student research legacy project
        5. Policy
  • Instructional support
      1. Checklist for instructors
      2. Class screenings
        1. Downloadable and streaming media
      3. Copyright
      4. Course reserves
        1. Commercial textbooks challenges
      5. New Faculty | Library Information
        1. Creating links to online library resources
          1. Creating and editing hyperlinks in a Word document
          2. Creating links in MyCourses
          3. Creating persistent links
      6. Rare and primary materials
      7. Research services
        1. Research tools
        2. Resources
        3. Scholarly communications
  • Contact us
      1. Feedback
      2. Find a librarian or archivist
        1. Librarian profiles
      3. Library accessibility
        1. Services
        2. Spaces
      4. Questions? Ask a librarian!
        1. Chat with a librarian
        2. Email a librarian
        3. Text a librarian
      5. Report a problem
      6. Suggest a purchase
  • About
      1. Trenholme Dean and Leadership
        1. Governance
          1. Library Cabinet
          2. Library Council
          3. Library Management Group
      2. Awards, grants and fellowships
        1. Awards and recognition for Libraries staff
        2. Friends of the Libraries Student Library Award
      3. Employment opportunities
      4. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility
        1. Statement on Inclusive Description
      5. Ex Libris Collection
      6. Facts and figures
        1. Annual reports
      7. Feedback and improvement
      8. Giving to the Libraries
        1. Supporting the Libraries
          1. Annual giving to the Libraries
          2. Bequests and planned gifts
          3. Library endowments
          4. Major gifts
          5. PGSS Library Improvement Fund
          6. SSMU Library Improvement Fund
        2. The Margery Trenholme Chair in University Libraries
      9. McGill Libraries Privacy Statement
      10. McGill Libraries planning
        1. Strategic Priorities
      11. McGill University Collections Centre
        1. About
        2. Contact us
        3. Services
      12. News & events
        1. Follow the Libraries!
      13. Policies
        1. Borrowing policy
        2. Collection policy
          1. Islamic studies collection policy
          2. Rare Books and Special Collections and Osler Collection Development Policy
          3. Video content
        3. Exhibition policy
        4. Gifts-In-Kind Policy
      14. Publications
        1. Library Matters @ McGill
        2. Play On! Explore Library Games
          1. Instantporels
          2. Moments in Time
        3. Podcast | Voices from the Footnotes
        4. Special collections

Breadcrumb

  1. McGill.ca
  2. Libraries
  3. Locations
  4. Birks Reading Room

Secondary navigation

  • Birks Reading Room
    • About the Birks Reading Room
    • Staff
    • Virtual tour
  • Education Curriculum Resources Centre
  • Humanities and Social Sciences Library
  • Islamic Studies Library
  • Macdonald Campus Library
  • Marvin Duchow Music Library
  • Nahum Gelber Law Library
  • Osler Library of the History of Medicine
  • Rare Books and Special Collections
  • Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering

Virtual tour

Exterior, Birks Reading Room

Exterior entrance to the Birks Reading Room with the words "view map" over top

[Map link]

Interior, Birks Reading Room

Interior entrance to Birks Reading Room with a sign saying "view map".

[Map link]

McGill University Libraries

McLennan Library Building
3459 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec  H3A 0C9



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