Reading Room Hours - Rules - Searching the Catalogs - Requesting Items
Using Manuscripts - Placing Items on Reserve - Photoduplication Services - Where Materials Are Stored
The Reading Rooms are available to registered readers, Tuesday through Saturday.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Items may be requested until 5:15 pm.
Friday and Saturday
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Items may be requested until 4:00 pm.
Closed on Sundays and Mondays and certain holidays.
The security of the Newberry’s staff, visitors, researchers, and collections require the following rules and procedures. We ask you to join our efforts to create a research-friendly environment and to preserve the collections for future generations by adhering to these policies.
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Compositione di meser Vincenzo Capirola (ca. 1517) Case MS minus VM 140 .C25 |
In order to find items at the Newberry Library, you need to search our catalogs:
The items represented in the Newberry's online catalog are also included in I-Share, the catalog for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). They are also included in the free and subscription versions of OCLC's WorldCat.
For additional information on the Newberry's collections, visit our collections page. Please contact us if you have any questions.
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| Atlas maior, sive, Cosmographia Blaviana... (Amsterdam, 1662) By Joan Blaeu Wing oversize ZP 646 .B57 |
After identifying relevant items, Newberry Library readers use yellow call slips to request materials from the bookstack building. One call slip is required for each item. (You may use a single call slip for multiple volumes with the same call number.) The Reading Room staff and Reference Librarians can help you through the call slip process, as needed.
All call slips must be submitted in person between 10 am and 5:15 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and between 9 am and 4:00 pm on Friday and Saturday. Call slips for General Collections items should be submitted to the 2nd floor reading room. Call slips for Special Collections items should be submitted to the 4th floor reading room.
Delivery time ranges from 10-20 minutes, depending on the number of other requests pending. We regret that we cannot accept requests in advance of your visit.
Most of the Newberry Library's manuscripts are housed in the Roger & Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections. Readers interested in viewing manuscripts must fill out a "Use Of Manuscripts" form (available in Special Collections).
Manuscripts are under-represented in the online catalog, having been traditionally described with paper finding aids and checklists. To explore the manuscript collections, please consult the online catalog and the Newberry's Manuscripts and Archives page. Some of the Newberry Library's modern manuscript collections are included in ArchiveGrid and in the online version of the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC).
Please note: Appointments are required for unprocessed collections. Please contact us if you have any questions about the Newberry's manuscript collections.
Both reading rooms can hold items on reserve for you for up to two weeks. Reserve requests are not accepted in advance of your visit. Please talk to the Reading Room staff about the reserve process when you are here in the Library.
A range of photoduplication services are available at the Newberry Library. Requests may be made in person, via e-mail, fax, and mail. Telephone requests are not accepted. Services, fees, restrictions, and delivery times are described at www.newberry.org/collections/photodup.html. Depending on the size, condition, and copyright status of the item, certain photoduplication services may not be available.
Please note: There are no self-service copy machines in the Library. Staff members make all photocopies. Self-service microfilm printers ($.50/page) are available on the 2nd floor.
Readers are allowed to use digital cameras to photograph some items. Please see our camera policy at www.newberry.org/collections/camerapolicy.html.
Bookstack Building 
Most of the Newberry's materials are stored in a 10-story bookstack building adjacent to the main Library building. The optimum conditions for preserving library materials are not the same as those for human comfort. Therefore, the library chose to separate its book storage areas from the reading areas. This windowless bookstack building (completed in 1982) relies on computer-monitored environmental, security, and fire-detection systems, and utilizes a highly efficient air-filtration system. The temperature is maintained at 60F and the relative humidity (RH) at 50%, with a diurnal fluctuation of no more than 3% and a seasonal allowable fluctuation of 6%. The stack floors are dark most of the time; lights are turned on only when staff members enter a stack floor.
The bookstacks are not open for browsing. Upon request, staff members will retrieve specific items from the stacks building, and deliver them to readers in the reading rooms.
For more information on the construction and conditions of the Newberry Library's bookstack building, please visit the Conservation Department's page.
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Open Shelves
Some items are stored on the "open shelves" in the reading rooms and reference center. Readers may browse the open shelves and remove items from the shelves as needed. Please return books to the reading room staff; they will re-shelve the books for you.
Open shelf call numbers have the following prefixes or location notes:
Microfilm and Microfiche
Some of the Newberry's microfilm and microfiche items are stored in drawers in the General Collections Regenstein Reading Room. By and large, these items relate to local and family history research. Readers may help themselves to these films; kindly return them to their places when you are finished. If you have any questions about the open shelf microforms, please visit with the Local & Family History Reference Librarian on the 2nd floor.