Ottawa Branch Library

The Ottawa Branch OGS Library offers an extensive reference collection of over 14,400 items to help you with your family history research.  Our resources cover Canada and beyond, with particular focus on three areas: Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec; the British Isles; and British Colonial America.

You can search the Online Library Catalogue by keywords from the descriptions our volunteers have written, author, title, or Dewey call number. 

Our Library resources include:

  • Genealogy and family history journals from across Canada and the British Isles; as well as some U.S. journals from New England, New York, Rhode Island and the National Genealogical Society
  • Hundreds of cemetery transcriptions
  • Newspaper and Birth/Marriage/Death indexes
  • Over 1,000 family histories
  • Many local, provincial, and national histories

Library Resources: See the various tip sheets and lists below for more helpful information:

Some of our resources are available on microfilm or microfiche, so make sure to bring your own USB Drive to download pages you want as there is no internet access for these specific resources, so you cannot email a copy to yourself. However, rest assured there is internet access available for your convenience in the Reference Room, in general.

Our collection is housed within the Reference Room of Ottawa City Archives, at 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa.  We are open the same hours as the Archives:

  • Tuesday – Friday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Sunday & Monday: closed

For holiday closures, etc., please refer to the City Archives website: Hours of Operation

In addition to the Ottawa Branch OGS library, the City Archives Reference Room also houses the following collections:

Websites that are freely available onsite include:

Ottawa Branch volunteers are available in the library to help you make the best use of our resources. 

Questions? Advice? Suggestions? Please contact us at [email protected]

Please Note: Due to copyright laws, we do not accept requests to copy publications in our holdings. If you need copies of any material, contact the author or publisher.

Copyright © 2025 Ottawa Branch, Ontario Ancestors As the copyright status of material provided by this website is not yet determined, their use is limited to your own personal research. Copies should not be shared unless it is indicated that copyright has expired (Public Domain) or you have been granted permission by the copyright holder. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] for further assistance. | Powered by Responsive Theme