Story 1
Several decades ago, the “Directory of Special Collections of Research Value in Canadian Libraries” listed the Massey Library’s Canadian military history collection. The Directory acknowledged the Canadian collection was a small fraction of the John W. Spurr Military Studies (MS) Collection. Over the last thirty years, the MS collection doubled. Not that long ago the shift to electronic books and other electronic resources began. Half a million dollars in funding in 2025/2026 from the Government of Canada's Research Support Fund (RSF) helped accelerate that trend.
A large portion of 3000 ebooks purchased from several publishers fell within the wide boundaries of military studies, including military history, leadership, international affairs, politics, and current events. RSF funding also enabled replacing segments of the Library’s microfilm collection, granting reserachers the ability to rapidly search archival collections and discover new connections. Researchers now have access to forty-four more archival collections in electronic format to explore in addition to our existing collections. The newly acquired historical source material add to the study of twentieth century history, including the Second World War and the Vietnam War.
For example, a biography of Mussolini led to the addition of two hundred more titles on fascism and authoritarianism. Mussolini’s leadership and politics were pivotal to the history of the Second World War and provide important context for drawing critical post-war parallels. Beyond military studies, the Library approached RMC’s Canada Research Chairs for suggestions in their areas of interest. Dr. Doug Delaney, Canada Research Chair in War Studies, requested a subscription to “The U.K. government collection” and twenty new ebooks, including conferences, and three print collections on permafrost engineering will help support Dr. Ryley Beddoe’s research interests as Canada Research Chair in Permafrost Engineering. Others will benefit from updating several collections with current books on intelligent technologies, robotics, and engineering.
Support from the RSF generates impact for the entire RMC scholarly community through the resources it makes available at Massey Library.
Story 2
As a unit of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Military College carries a greater than average security exposure while, as a small academic institution, the resources available for reserach security are limited. The Research Support Fund empowers staff in the Office of the VPR to offer advice to faculty, partake in national policy discussions, and exceed the compliance measures mandated by the granting agencies to meet reserach security concerns. Faculty are able to access one-on-one support for risk mitigation, feedback on grant proposals, and options to achieve the goals of their research program while remaining protected from threats to data quality or security.
RSF is a force multiplier for the research security effort at RMC.