Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Library is pleased to announce new online reg­is­tra­tion and request­ing ser­vices for schol­ars plan­ning to visit the spe­cial col­lec­tions read­ing rooms of the Fire­stone Library and Mar­quand Library of Art and Archae­ol­ogy. The new ser­vices allow researchers to pre-register online for a research account and place pag­ing requests online via the Main Cat­a­log, Find­ing Aids, and the library’s new dis­cov­ery tool SearchIt@PUL. Research accounts also pro­vide researchers with a per­ma­nent record of items con­sulted. Upcom­ing enhance­ments will include imple­men­ta­tion at the See­ley G. Mudd Man­u­script Library and the East Asian Library & Gest Col­lec­tion. To reg­is­ter for an account and learn more about request­ing mate­r­ial, see Spe­cial Col­lec­tions Research Account.

The Depart­ment of Rare Books and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions is explor­ing var­i­ous options for enhanc­ing its reg­is­tra­tion and cir­cu­la­tion pro­ce­dures. One of the lead­ing can­di­dates for this upgrade in ser­vices is a soft­ware solu­tion called Aeon. Aeon is cur­rently being used by spe­cial col­lec­tions depart­ments in sev­eral research insti­tu­tions, includ­ing Har­vard, Yale, Chicago, and the Harry Ran­som Cen­ter at the Uni­ver­sity of Texas. Har­vard Col­lege Library News recently pub­lished an arti­cle on Aeon’s “midterm” grade. While we won’t give away the posted grade here, the responses and com­ments from Har­vard fac­ulty and staff are all very encouraging:

“At the Midterm…”

For those of you who are famil­iar with using Aeon in your research or daily work­flow, we would be delighted to receive your opin­ions and com­ments as well.