This page describes how researchers with an Aeon account can request Special Collections archival materials, and attach those requests to new or existing Reading Room appointments. Before making requests, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and members of the general public must create an Aeon account.
Reading Room appointments cannot be scheduled without a material request. Researchers must first know what archival item they want to see, and then request a date and time to view the material.
We require all patrons to create their Aeon account and request materials at least 5 days before their visit.
Questions about your account? Ask Special Collections.
1. Visit the McFarlin Special Collections Archival Catalog and search for the collection name, collection identifier number, item name, or topic you're interested in.
2. From the search results, click the name of the collection to open the finding aid. Notice the yellow box in the top right corner with the text "Please select an item". This is because all finding aids first open at the top or collection level, and whole collections can't be requested. You'll need to locate specific items within the collection that you'd like to request.
3. To do that, use the Collection Organization bar on the left side of the page to open different sections of the finding aid. In this example, we open Series 1 of the Edith Nesbit archive to see all the record entries describing individual pieces of correspondence in this collection. Clicking on an individual record shows more information about that letter, and changes the yellow box to the black and white "Aeon Request" button.
4. When you click the button, you're immediately taken to the "Saved Requests" section of your Aeon account, where your archive request has already been filled out and is waiting to be attached to a Reading Room appointment.
5. Make sure you check the box next to the item you want to attach to a Reading Room appointment request. If you don't check the box but click the "Submit Information" button at the bottom of the page, Aeon will only save your request because it assumes you're still deciding whether you actually want to see that item.
Next, you'll continue on to the second step of attaching the archive request to a new or existing Reading Room appointment. See instructions below for how to do that.
1. At the bottom of your Saved Requests page, you'll find the Request Information section. This is where you'll request a Reading Room date and time.
Although the Reading Room field is a drop-down menu, McFarlin Special Collections has only one Reading Room to choose from.
2. If you are creating a new Reading Room appointment, you won't see anything in the Appointment drop-down menu. Instead, click the Schedule a New Appointment button to bring up the Reading Room calendar.
Notice that the calendar has red dates that are struck through. These are days when there are no Reading Room appointments available. In this example, the department is only closed on Saturdays and Sundays; however, there may be times during the workweek when the Reading Room is closed due to campus closures or staff time being reallocated elsewhere.
3. Select the date for your appointment either by typing the date (MM/DD/YYYY) into the box above the calendar, or by clicking on a white day in the calendar.
4. Select the length of your appointment. You can choose 30 minute increments up to 3 hours and 30 minutes. Please note that the Reading Room closes from 12pm to 1pm. If you plan to spend a full day in the Reading Room, you'll book two appointments: one for 3.5 hours in the morning, and one for 3.5 hours in the afternoon. There's no need to book multiple hourly appointments in a row unless you need to leave the library and come back later.
5. You have the option to give your appointment a name. This is only visible to you, and can help you organize multiple research appointments.
When you've completed the appointment form, it'll look something like this:
6. Click the "Create Appointment" button. The page will change to show new information in the Appointment drop-down menu.
Your request for a Reading Room appointment has been submitted, but keep this page open, because you have one more step to complete.
7. At the very bottom of the Book Request Form, click the "Submit Request" button. You'll be taken to the list of your Active Requests in your Aeon account, where you'll be able to see the status of your request and filter all your requests by any tags you added.
8. You'll receive an email from Special Collections staff confirming your appointment.
1. If you've already booked an appointment and want to see multiple archive items during that time, find the specific item you'd like to request in the Archival Catalog and click the "Aeon Request" button.
2. When you get to the Request Information section of the form, you'll notice that the Appointment drop-down box should list all active appointments, and you can choose which appointment you'd like to associate with the item you're requesting.
3. Be sure to click the "Submit Request" button at the bottom of the page to complete your request.
