Navigating primary sources
Tapping into the expertise of Archives staff to cut through the noise
Nicole Marcogliese Archivist, Special Collections & Archives
Ryan Jacobs is known to many across campus in his role as the director of Print and Retail Solutions. He’s also currently a part-time PhD student, working on completing his thesis in the department of History. As he began thinking about what topic he wanted to take on for his thesis, the idea of focusing on Waterloo as a case study to highlight changes in the Canadian university landscape took hold.
While Jacobs had a lot of first-hand knowledge of Waterloo through his time as an undergraduate student and a staff member, he knew he would need to go much deeper into the history of the school before he could narrow his focus. To uncover the primary sources he would need, Jacobs reached out to the Library’s Special Collections & Archives (SCA).
Working with primary sources
Jacobs hadn’t spent much time in SCA before, so he wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he sat down with archivist Nicole Marcogliese for an initial consultation. “I was surprised at how much time Nicole spent providing me with a background on how archives work during my first visit. However, by my second visit I understood the impact of that conversation – I felt so much more confident in navigating the archives and could focus on what was most important to move my research forward,” says Jacobs.
For Marcogliese, this initial consultation gave her a better understanding of the broad topic Jacobs was looking at, giving her the insight she needed to suggest a search strategy for this early evidence-gathering stage. Her knowledge of the University of Waterloo Archives helped cut through the noise to focus on the primary sources that would be most valuable in helping Jacobs refine his thesis topic.
The value of a research partner
Jacobs has spent three to four hours a week in SCA for most of 2024, systematically going through the key collections he and Marcogliese identified, pulling out key words, figures and projects that slowly have been helping him refine his topic. And Marcogliese, and the rest of the SCA staff, were there right beside him.
“The biggest surprise in working with SCA has been how much of a research partner Nicole is. Her expertise in navigating the archives I expected, but I didn’t realize how important having a sounding board like Nicole with me every step of the way would be,”
- Ryan Jacobs, Director of Print and Retail Solutions, PhD Student
Jacobs still has a long way to go, but reaching out to the Library and SCA at the initial stage of his research has empowered him with the knowledge and confidence to keep progressing with his thesis.