In addition to its role at the University of Calgary, the Calgary Institute for the Humanities seeks to encourage humanistic study outside the university, and to establish dialogue between academics and the lay public. Original work in the humanities does not normally require the provision of specialized equipment but puts especially heavy demands upon the individual scholar engaged in it. Student assistants and technicians can contribute very little. Thus, when scholars are occupied elsewhere, their research projects stop until they can resume them again. Library resources are essential, and contact with other scholars, who are often scattered thinly across the world, is the major source of stimulus.
Publication is highly competitive and usually very slow.
The Institute's programmes in support of advanced study therefore attempt to provide scholars with time to carry out their work. In addition, the Institute sponsors formal and informal gatherings among persons who share common interests, in order to promote intellectual dialogue and discussion. The mandate of the Calgary Institute for the Humanities is achieved primarily through these programmes. The Institute is financially supported by the University of Calgary and obtains outside funding by way of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants, contract research, and foundation grants. Institute offices are located in the University's MacKimmie Library.