How to Place New Requests
A Special Collections Research Account is required to make an appointment and request materials to review in the Avery Drawings & Archives reading room. You will need to provide a current address, email, and telephone number. Upon your first visit, you will need validate your account in-person with a Columbia ID card or government issued photo identification.
All materials you wish to see must be requested at least one week prior to your requested appointment time. We have a small reading room with limited space, and cannot guarantee your preferred appointment time. All appointments are confirmed by email once the selection of materials has been approved.
After you register for a Special Collections Research Account, you can submit requests via our online Archival Collections Finding Aids, from CLIO, or using our manual request form. Specific instructions for each are outlined below.
For collections that have online finding aids, you can request directly from the finding aid’s container list.
Click on "View All" to see the full inventory for the collection.
Once you are in the Container List (collection's inventory), click the check box located on the right for the box(es) or roll(s) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list page and click “Submit Request” button in the red box at top.
For collections with embedded Excel Inventories, you will need to submit your request via the Manual Request Form. For instructions, see below.
When requesting materials from a specific box, you can request the first folder in the box you would like to review in our reading room, rather than selecting every folder from that box. For materials in boxes, we retrieve the entire box, not individual folders.
Unlike with boxed materials, materials listed as being in a "Drawer" are retrieved by individual folders, so please select every folder you would like to review for your appointment.
For collection records in our online catalog, click on "Request: Special Collections" on the right side of the page in the gray box.
If the collection has an online finding aid, this link will re-direct you to the finding aid. See finding aid instructions above.
Some finding aid links will direct you to a PDF of a paper finding aid or an Excel inventory. After reviewing those finding aids/inventories, you will need to submit your request via the Manual Request Form. See manual request instructions below.
To submit a manual request, log into your account at https://aeon.cul.columbia.edu/
Once you are logged into your Special Collections Account, select "New Requests" in the menu header.
Scroll to the bottom of the page until you get to Non-Clio or Unprocessed Materials. Click on "Manual Request Form."
Using information obtained from an Excel inventory or paper finding aid, enter the following information into the form:
#1) Name of the collection
#2) Box number or drawing number
#3) Name of the series and name of the folder or project being requested
#4) Creator of the collection
Scroll to the bottom of the page and select "Avery Drawings and Archives" for the Site. You do not need to fill out Reading Room or Appointment (these are fields used by RBML). Then click "Submit Request" at the bottom of the page.