Research Visits

Before You Visit

• Create an Aeon account in order to request materials.
• All requests must be made three business days in advance of your visit.
• A large number of items have been digitized and are available online through our Digital Collections website: https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/.
• We’ve created a research guide on working in the archives: https://research.library.gsu.edu/archivalresearch.
• Any questions or requests for special accommodations can be directed to archives@gsu.edu.

When You Arrive at the Reading Room

• Check in at the desk. You will be asked to show your PantherCard or government issued ID.
• Place all outerwear (coats, umbrellas, etc.) on the coat racks. Place all personal items in lockers.
• The only personal items that are allowed on your table are a laptop, cellphone, or camera. We will provide pencil and paper for notes.
• No food or liquids. Please ensure no pens, gum, food, drink, etc. of any kind are at your research station. This is vital for preserving our irreplaceable special collections.
• The reading room is designated as an administrative space, so no firearms, concealed or otherwise, are allowed.

How to Request and Handle Materials

• Physical materials are not accessible outside of the reading room or outside of regular operating hours.
• Please request materials in advance to maximize your time. Some materials are stored off-site, which require at least a 48-hour turnaround for retrieval. Weather conditions may delay retrieval.
• Let the staff at the desk know which box, book, or object you would like to start with. A Special Collections staff member will bring the box to your table.
• Only one box, book, or object can be at a table at a time.
• Only remove one folder at a time. Staff will provide an “out card” as a placeholder for removed folders if requested.
• Groups working together at the same workstation must still abide by the ONE BOX, ONE FOLDER rule.
• Papers within a folder should be turned like the pages in a book to maintain the original order of the collection.
• Do no not handle archival materials in a way that may damage the materials. Some examples include leaning on, writing on, or tracing over papers, or handling books or periodicals in a way that will damage the spine. If you are not sure how to handle a particular item or if an item seems especially fragile, ask for assistance.
• If archival materials appear to be out of order or damaged please bring it to our attention.

Photo Policies

• You are welcome to use your cellphone or a camera to take notes or copy documents that you do not have time to review in the reading room.
• All images must include our property rights statement slip.
• If you would like to use an image in a published product (book, website, article documentary, etc.) you must fill out a duplication in Aeon for permission and payment of any licensing fees.
• If you share content from our collections on social media, please tag our accounts in your post. Note: we do not hold the copyright for all our holdings so please follow fair use guidelines.
• We can offer duplication services for small sections of a folder or items from a collection but cannot duplicate entire folders, boxes, or collections.

Agreement Regarding Confidential Information in Manuscripts

The staff of Special Collections and Archives makes every effort to identify personally identifiable information (PII), confidential, or restricted manuscripts before they are provided to patrons. However, the volume of manuscripts housed in Special Collections and Archives, and the varying thoroughness with which they may have been processed, means that protected information is occasionally overlooked and may accidentally be released to a patron. In the event that a patron discovers protected information, the following measures will apply:

• The researcher bears no liability for having seen confidential or protected information (medical records, social security numbers, contact information, etc.) but the researcher, upon being informed of (or recognizing) the confidential nature of the information, may not willfully disclose, distribute, or sell such information and may be guilty of a crime under state or federal law for doing so.
• The researcher should notify staff if they discover personally identifiable information.
• Staff may ask for reasonable assurances that all confidential information has been removed from researcher notes, databases, or other manuscripts created by the researcher before researcher leaves the premises.
• Staff will refuse duplication, transcribing, or further access to materials containing protected or confidential manuscripts.