Thursday, December 12, 2019 by Mary Lynne Bartlett
Hello! My name is Matheson Tang and I am in my third year of Honours Science. This is my third term as a Library Ambassador and I’ve decided to come back again because I’ve really grown to love the Library and this position! This term, I’ve gotten to learn more about the Special Collections & Archives department. The library staff in this department provide research and information services related to rare resources and materials.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Sue Plouffe, who is a Library Associate within the Special Collections & Archives department. Sue’s favourite part about working at the Library are the students she gets to meet, so come by and visit her! The Special Collections & Archives department is located in Dana Porter in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room.
As a Library Associate, Sue helps connect people to the valuable resources that they may need for projects, research, or for general interest. These resources are not only open to students, faculty, staff, and even the public! Sue also works with handling the materials and resources themselves by keeping the Special Collections & Archives organized, and processing new material and resource donations. It’s important that these rare materials and resources are carefully handled due to their early publication date and delicate condition.
I asked Sue what advice she would give students about the Special Collections & Archives, and how it could help with our studies. Sue said that it may be easy to overlook the value of these older materials and resources provide, but they may be more useful than one may think! Next time you have a project or assignment, drop by the Special Collections & Archives department and talk to Sue about how the materials and resources there may help you! If you just want to look around, Sue is always happy to give students a tour of the Special Collections & Archives itself, and show you many fascinating resources! I got to look around and one thing I can say for sure is that I didn’t know what I was missing out on, it was amazing!
This is only one of the many resources and services that the library has to offer! One of my favourite parts about being a Library Ambassador is being able to learn about these resources and share the knowledge I have with other students here at the University of Waterloo.
- Matheson
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