Queen's owns the Edith and Lorne Pierce Collection of Canadiana, which contains books on Canadian history and literature, along with books of Canadian fiction, poetry, and drama written. The collection is searchable through QCAT; it is located in the W.D. Jordan Special Collections Library (2nd floor, Douglas Library).

1. Find information on a single work with a keyword search. e.g. For books discussing The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood:
   "handmaid's tale" and atwood (keyword search)
2. Find criticism on an author's works by searching for the author's name as a subject. e.g. For criticism on Leonard Cohen's works:
   cohen leonard (subject heading search)
3. For criticism on a specific work by an author, you can select the corresponding subject from the subject list. e.g. For books on The Diviners by Margaret Laurence:
   laurence margaret (subject heading search) and click on Laurence, Margaret. Diviners
4. Find information about the time period and country in which the work was written. e.g. For books discussing Canadian literature in the 21st century:
   canadian literature 21st century (subject heading search)
5. If you find a book in QCAT that fits your research topic, click on Full record to see the subject headings. They can help you find other books on the same topic. e.g. If you're doing research on postcolonialism in Canada and the book Asian North American Identities: Beyond the Hyphen looks interesting, click on Full record to see subject headings which will help you find similar books.
6. Subject headings can help you broaden or focus your search. Subjects from Asian North American Identities that can broaden your search:
   Assimilation (Sociology) in literature.
   Group identity in literature.
   Ethnicity in literature.
   Race in literature.
   
   Subjects that can focus your search:
   Canadian literature--Asian authors--History and criticism.
   Asian Americans in literature.
   
7. To find information about a specific genre of Canadian literature, do a keyword search and check the subject headings of works for more leads.
   canadian and poetry (keyword search)
   Some subject Headings retrieved from this search:
   
   Canadian poetry--Women authors.
   Canadian wit and humour, pictorial.
   French-Canadian poetry Acadian authors.
   Haiku, French-Canadian.
   Small presses--Canada
   
8. To search for information on a specific literary/artistic movement or a group of writers:
   "confederation poets" (keyword search)
   "group of seven" (keyword search)
   
9. Search for bibliographies on an author (including their writings and what has been written about them). e.g., Timothy Findley
   findley and bibliography (keyword search)