Our radical resource library is home to a collection of zines, periodicals, media, and hundreds of books that reflect and respond to OPIRG Guelph’s mandate of social/environmental justice and anti-oppression. Our titles are chosen through consultation with OPIRG volunteers, students, and community members in response to changing community interests as well as the (un)availability of alternative materials in the university’s main library collection. Our goal is to provide independent sources of knowledge as support for working groups and for the research needs of Guelph students, faculty, alumni and community members.
Our University-Affiliated Collection
Search our collection online through the library website, or stop by to browse the shelves!
Our library is searchable through the University of Guelph library.
How to search:
Enter the term you wish to search for.
In the subsequent result list, scroll to the submenu on the list.
Click on U of G Library.
Select OPIRG Guelph.
OPIRG library users are subject to the borrowing policies of the University of Guelph and must have a University of Guelph library card, for which there is a charge of $20 for non-students or alumni.
We don’t want the cost of the library card to be a barrier for our users so anyone interested in using our library who can’t afford the card can talk to our staff about getting it paid for by OPIRG.
For more information about our library services or any other OPIRG programmes, please contact us at library@opirgguelph.org or organizational@opirgguelph.org
Our library is searchable through the University of Guelph system TRELLIS.
How to search ONLY the OPIRG Library Collection online using the TRELLIS database:
- Click on the Advanced Search Tab (link)
- Select “Guelph OPIRG Library” in the alphabetical “location” list.
- Then, click the “Search” Button.
- All keyword and title searches will be within the OPIRG Library collection.
Magazines and Periodicals
The RRL is home to a collection of subscription periodicals and magazines centered in local, alternative, and radical publications. From recent issues of Briarpatch or Canadian Dimension to back issues of Kick It Over and Windspeaker, we’ve got a wide variety of publications that can spark a discussion or start a conversation. So, if you’re looking for an off-beat mag. or something you might not find anywhere else, check out our periodicals section!
Zines and Multimedia
The RRL is happy to house an extensive zine collection in our within our radical library. Zines are self-published (often handmade, photocopied, and with limited distribution or circulation) publications which cover a broad range of eclectic topics from alternative and/or personal points of view. They are DIY, ephemeral, difficult to categorize, and come in a dizzying diversity of styles and formats. For this reason, they are often not found in public or university libraries. We at OPIRG believe that zines represent important, alternative sources of knowledge for activists and researchers alike. They are freely available in our library space – so come check them out!
We’ve also got a treasure trove of films, slide-decks, and media of all sorts (including a lot of older media formats) from the 1970s to today! Some of these are popular documentaries and films. Some of these are edutainment. Some are critical source material for our earlier social and environmental justice work. So, if you need to do some digging into that kind of material, drop on by!