![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-05-at-4.02.09\u202fPM-700x459.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe interior of the TFRBL.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are a fan of both Margaret Atwood and accessible special collections, the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (TFRBL) is the perfect place for you. Located in Canada as part of Toronto University, TFRBL contains all of the items belonging to the department of special collections and rare books which includes manuscripts, books, and other related materials. Among their collections are the Margaret Atwood drafts and typescripts which are the library\u2019s most treasured manuscripts. The library also houses the official records of the university which belong to the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TFRBL is named in honor of Thomas Fisher, a citizen of Yorkshire who moved and settled in Canada back in 1821 by the Humber River. Upon the opening of the library in 1973, Fisher\u2019s great-grandsons Sidney and Charles donated several collections of their own to the library. Today, the library holds about 800,000 volumes and 14,763 feet of archival manuscript holdings!<\/p>\n\n\n The exterior of the TFRBL.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon visiting the library\u2019s website, one will find that the library does not just cater to university students, staff or alumni\u2013it also caters to the general public and other communities. Therefore, the resources are accessible to anyone. One only needs a library card to enter the reading rooms; the process of acquiring a library card is also simple as one only needs to provide identification and proof of address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the various collections available in-house, the library also provides access to some modern Canadian literature which simply needs to be requested and will be handed to the patron within 48 hours. To further enhance accessibility, the library has also undertaken various digitization projects which allow researchers from all over the world to view their resources. Through their website\u2013which is very user friendly\u2013any researcher or otherwise curious individual can view the digitized material through a separate site titled \u2018Collections U of T\u2019. The Anatomia Collection is one of the first and most interesting\u2013in my opinion\u2013collections on the website as it features medical works dating back to the 17th and 18th century. The library also features a medieval manuscript collection which is mostly in Latin but fascinating nonetheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The library also hosts a variety of events for patrons to attend\u2013including Friends of Fisher events. \u2018Friends of Fisher\u2019 is equivalent to what public libraries call \u2018Friends of the Library\u2019 which is very interesting seeing as the TFRBL is a rare book library. It is refreshing to see public library attributes in an academic setting.<\/p>\n\n\n An example of a A Friends of Fisher event as published on their website.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n As the library is located on a university campus, it also lends itself to hosting video and audio lectures which patrons can access through their website\u2013without even needing a library card. The library also hosts a podcast and even a blog which makes it all the more interactive. Overall, the TFRBL is very accessible, inclusive, and welcoming. Their mission is to make information accessible to all interested people regardless of whether or not they are students. You can explore more about the library through their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by: Michelle Sosa Edited by:\u00a0Genevieve Hammang The interior of the TFRBL. If you are a fan of both Margaret Atwood and accessible special collections, the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (TFRBL) is the perfect place for you. Located in Canada as part of Toronto University, TFRBL contains all of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":7053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ischool-sla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7056,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7052\/revisions\/7056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ischoolgroups.sjsu.edu\/slasc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-05-at-4.03.52\u202fPM-676x550.png\")
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