Because the collections are so varied, students from all disciplines are likely to find intriguing items. We have items here that very few people have ever examined. A student can come in here and make a significant scholarly contribution to her field. Murray also wants to make the collections available online. Formerly head of the Blackader-Lauterman Library of Architecture and Art, she was a driving force behind the creation of McGill's Canadian Architecture Collection website.
Most items are unique and many are centuries old, fragile and irreplaceable.
If we put them online, though, people will be able to make use of them on their home computers. We also have to be connected to the teaching and research that go on at McGill. There's no point in spending thousands of dollars on something that won't be looked at. It was often the same at the Blackader-Lauterman. There would be items we would want, but then the Canadian Centre for Architecture would make a bid and that was the end of that.