Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > General Research Division

How to Request Materials

Most materials in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library are kept in closed stacks. Research typically begins by consulting CATNYP, the online catalog of the New York Public Library's Research Libraries, to see if the library has the material you need. Once an item is found in CATNYP, please be sure to note the location box on the catalog record. CATNYP includes collections held at all four Research Libraries. The catalog record for materials in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library will have the location Humanities followed by the name of a particular division. The location, Humanities-Genrl Res, designates materials held by the General Research Division. These materials can be requested by filing a call slip in Room 315, the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room. The materials are then delivered to the reader in the Rose Main Reading Room.

Requests for titles in the General Research Division's collection of current periodicals are submitted in the Dewitt Wallace Current Periodical Section, Room 108. Microform materials are requested in Room 100.

If the location reads OFFSITE, the item is stored in our remote shelving facility and can be delivered within one to two days. From the CATNYP record, click on the location link OFFSITE for more information about requesting those materials.

If you have any questions about requesting materials, please contact our telephone reference service at (212) 930-0830 or e-mail us at grdref@nypl.org