Gates Special Collections Classroom, Manuscripts and Archives, Sterling Memorial Library: Arranging An Instruction Session for Your Class

To arrange an instruction session for your class, send an email to mssa.assist@yale.edu. Please provide as much of the following information as you can:

• course name and number or group name
• size of group
• date/time desired for the instruction session (and at least one alternate, if possible)
• specific collections or materials you're interested in having your class or group engage, if known
• attaching a syllabus for your Yale course, if available, is very helpful

A staff member from Manuscripts and Archives will respond to your email. Please remember that your class must be engaging with Yale University Library special collections materials in order to hold your class in the Gates Special Collections Classroom.

The classroom is heavily used for instruction, especially during key times in the Yale academic calendar, so please contact us at your earliest convenience to arrange for an instruction session for your class. 

Yale University Library colleagues can directly reserve the Gates Classroom using the Library's online scheduling application. If your reservation is not for a class session using special collections materials, you will be contacted by someone from Manuscripts and Archives to find out more about your needs for the classroom prior to receiving approval to use the room.

An instruction session in the Gates Classroom can include any of the following:

• an introduction to rare and archival materials and other special collections
• an overview of how to find special collections materials available at Yale University
• a display of selected special collections items relevant to the topic of your class
• a hands-on exercise with rare and archival materials from the Yale library's special collections relevant to the topic of your class
• an opportunity for your students to discuss materials they're discovering that are of interest in the context of your class
• an introduction to specific skills necessary for research using primary sources (see Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy for ideas about potential learning objectives)

We are happy to work with you to design an instruction session that meets your specific pedagogical goals for the students in your class. We are also happy to assist you in designing an assignment that can be incorporated into an instruction session in the Gates Classroom, or might bring your students to the Manuscripts and Archives reading room to engage with collection materials in more detail.