AIMS for Ontario Research

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

The Archives of Ontario is using a new tool called Archives and Information Management System (AIMS)  to allow users to research their collection. Let’s look.

According to  the site, “search archival, library and art collections using the new Archives and Information Management System (AIMS).  AIMS replaces the Archives Descriptive Database, the BIBLiON Library Catalogue Database, the Government of Ontario Art Collection Database, and the Visual Database. AIMS provides integrated access to all of these collections.” The idea behind this system is that you can create an account and use that to request copies of materials and other requests that you would normally have accomplished through email queries. I think as this matures it will be a good tool. As with any transitions there can be hiccups. Here are a couple of suggestions based on information from a recent class on Ontario land records.
 
While you can search from the main page of the Archives of Ontario, it was suggested to choose:

1. Access our collection
2. Archives Repository only
3. Advanced Search

This seems to help the system in the search process.
 
If you instead choose to look at the access our collection page, if you scroll past the information about AIMS, you can see the larger buckets of topics such as Immigration Records, Vital Statistics, The Changing Shape of Ontario, and many others. You can then delve down into these areas. The Changing Shape of Ontario lets you drill down to county maps as well as seeing how Ontario’s borders changed over the years.
 
While this new search tool isn’t perfect, it is great to see that the Ontario Archives are investing in helping its patrons find information more easily. Check it out and see if you can find something new that will help you with your family story. Happy searching!