Special Collections also collects printed indexes to census records, notably the Index to the 1871 Census of Ontario series published by the Ontario Genealogical Society. Indexes save researchers time as census returns are not in alphabetical order. The Centre has some indexes to the United States census for 1790 and 1800. The Library has a large collection of city directories providing information on residence and occupation. Listing residents by name, and often by address, city directories are helpful when searching other genealogical resources, such as census records.
Scattered holdings are available for other cities and countries.
Few early immigration records exist for Canada. As a result the Library's holdings are limited to published ships passenger lists , usually from ships arriving in American ports. The Special Collections Centre has series about specific groups immigrating to the United States, such as Irish famine immigrants. William Filby's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index indexes these and smaller publications. The National Archives has microfilmed the ships passenger list for official Canadian ports after 1865.