Call-Ahead Service at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

You may request that items from the Schwarzman Building's closed stack be reserved for you prior to your visit.

Simply follow the instructions below and send us an e-mail. Please note that you will need a New York Public Library Card when you arrive in order to consult your items. All items in the Schwarzman Building are available for on-site use only.

Contact

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building Access and Reader Services
callaheadsasb@nypl.org  

Information to include in the e-mail

Copying and pasting direct links from the Classic Catalog of the items you need works best, with additional information included regarding selected volumes you need (if it is a multi-volume item). If you are unable to copy and paste, please include all of the following information:

• Full and exact call number
• Title
• Author (if available)
• Volume number (if requesting a multi-volume item)

When you arrive at the Schwarzman Building

Please proceed to the research division that houses the item you requested and tell our staff that you have an item on reserve. Any materials not called for or picked up within 7 days will return to the Schwarzman Building's closed stacks that evening to make them available to other readers.

Please note that occasionally, items may not be available. We will make every effort to contact you before you arrive should this be the case. Feel free to contact us before you arrive at 212-642-0108 to ensure the item was found and on the reserve shelf for you.

Exceptions

• Unbound periodicals and items from our open shelf reference collections.
• Rare Books and other special collections should be contacted directly
• Manuscripts and Archives Division researchers should consult its instructions on requesting material in advance: www.nypl.org/mss
• Some oversized materials and restricted collections may not be available for this service.

Offsite Materials

We strongly encourage you to use our Electronic Offsite Request Form for items located in our offsite facilities; this is the quickest way to request materials. The Form is currently only available through our Classic Catalog and accessible by clicking on the "Request From Off-Site Storage" gray button. See this sample item record to learn more. However, reqeusts can also be accepted at the e-mail address above.

If you are not a cardholder, you may still request offsite materials via Call-Ahead e-mail service, but offsite materials may take an additional 1-2 business days to arrive.