Using Collection search

Use Collection search to search published and archival material at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). This tool searches the majority of the collection in one place, excluding census records and standalone databases.

Basic search

The quickest way to start is to search by keyword or phrase. If you don’t find what you’re looking for on the first try, here are some tips to get the most out of your search:

Start with a broad search, then narrow your results as you go.
Try different spellings, as proper names may be inconsistent or misspelled.
Use the wildcard search by typing partial words and using “*” to replace the endings (e.g., “imm*” will bring up “immigration,” “immigrant” and other words beginning with “imm”).
Try searching with or without punctuation or accented characters.
To search phrases, try different combinations of words instead of full sentences.
Many records and items are described in only one language. Try using keywords in both English and French.
The records you’re looking for might not be included in Collection search. Try Census search or one of our other search tools.

Advanced search

Use Advanced search to target specific collections or themes such as Genealogy or Collections and fonds.

Additional fields allow for more precise searching:

Boolean options

AND
Find results with multiple keywords.
OR
Find results with at least one of the terms. Gives a wider search than “And.”
Example: "Nova Scotia" OR "New Brunswick" OR “Newfoundland” OR "Prince Edward Island" OR “Atlantic OR Maritime*”
NOT
Exclude results containing certain terms. Useful for filtering out keywords that may interfere with your search.
Example: “Trudeau NOT Justin”
All of these words
Brings only results that contain all your search words.
Any of these words
Brings results that contain at least one of your search words, but may not contain all of them.
This exact phrase
Limits results to the exact words you entered.

Click the “+” or “x” buttons to add or delete rows of Boolean search fields.

Search in

Limits the results by Archives, Genealogy, Images, or Library (see descriptions below).

Collection

You can choose to limit your search results to a specific collection or theme using the drop-down menu (e.g., Immigration, First World War Personnel files, or Orders in Council). A link to a collection's help page is often available in a search result or record description. After you select a specific collection, even more advanced search fields will become available.

ID number

If you know the ID number (previously labelled as the MIKAN number or a dataset identifier), you can use it to find a specific record.

Date

Enter the year in the date box or click on “Set range” and enter a start and end date.

Available online

Limits your search results to include only digital material available online.

Co-Lab contributions

You can choose to include, exclude, or only search for Co-Lab contributions.

These are contributions made by the public to digitized items from LAC’s collection. You can contribute by transcribing, translating, tagging or describing. Learn more about Co-Lab.

Sorting your results

At the top of the results page, you can filter by category:

Genealogy

This tab refines your search to see only genealogy sources, including military service, immigration, land, and census records.

Library

This tab refines your search to explore LAC’s published collection, including books, periodicals (including newspapers), journals, official publications, theses, sound recordings, sheet music, maps, and electronic documents. This collection includes material in various languages, in Braille, and in large print. Links will take you to the library catalogue, which offers more search and order functions.

Images

This tab refines your search to digitized images in the archival collection at LAC. Each search result will be presented as a thumbnail.

Limiting your results

Use the options in the left-hand menu to narrow your search by applying additional filters, such as date, type of material, and online availability.

How to identify relevant results

You will probably get some results that aren’t relevant to your search. Here are some strategies for choosing the best results:

The title of a record doesn’t always tell you everything. Give the record description a quick scan to see if the record might be helpful.
Consult a wide variety of records in your subject area. Relevant records can come from multiple sources and might have different formats. There may be important information where you don’t expect it to be.
When looking for people, look beyond the name to confirm whether the record matches the description of the person you're looking for. This could be date of birth, birth location, residence, record of employment, names of parents or siblings, etc.

Reading a search result

When you click on a search result, you will be taken to its description, which is made up of different sections:

Viewer

If the record is digitized and attached to Collection search, the image will appear at the top of the page.

Hierarchy

This section shows you where in the archival hierarchy the record is located. You can go up and down the hierarchy from these links to view higher- or lower-level descriptions. For more info on archival hierarchy, see How to do archival research.

Finding aid

Finding aids describe what is in a large group of records. They can be paper, PDFs, or could link to a new page of search results in the database.

If there is a finding aid for the fonds or collection, the identifier number will be indicated. Often, the finding aid is available online and accessible by clicking on the link.

Record Information

This section provides details about the record you are viewing. This can look different depending on the type of record. Here are some fields you might encounter:

Reference: Complete or partial details for ordering or finding a record.
Item ID number: A unique number for searching the record in the database.
Found in: The part of the database where the record is.
Type of material: Describes the format of a record, such as textual or photographic.
Extent: Shows how much material is included in a record, helping you gauge the work needed to review it.
Accession: Lists temporarily linked records (accessions) that are not yet part of the permanent collection. You can click to view their descriptions.
Scope and content: Describes what is in a group of records, usually found at the series and sub-series levels.
Personal information: Name, date of birth, place of origin, ship name, place of residence, etc.

Ordering and viewing options

This section gives you information on access conditions and terms of use, so you can view the records in person or order copies.

Saving a search result

You can:

Save individual record descriptions online with My account by clicking “Add to my research.”
Download digital records using the download button below the item viewer. You can download a single image or all images in the record together in a PDF.
From the results page, download search results lists in formats like HTML, CSV, XML, or JSON (see the download icon at the top-right corner of the results page).
Print your search results list (see the printer icon at the top-right corner of the results page)

Language selection

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