Archives & Special Collections Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Everyone! We’re open to the public, in addition to University of Pittsburgh students, faculty, and staff.

A&SC has two Reading Room locations that you may visit:

A&SC at Hillman Library
3960 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

A&SC at the Archives Service Center
7500 Thomas Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA 15208

For more information about how to get to these locations, click here. Visitors are welcome at either location, however, there are some materials that can be only viewed at specific Reading Rooms. If you are unsure of which location to visit, please contact us ahead of time with details of your research request, and we'll direct you to the appropriate reading room.

Both reading rooms are open Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 4:45 pm. We are closed on all University holidays. You can also view the full list of library hours to check if we’re open.

Yes! Go to the A&SC Aeon Research Portal to create an account. Once you have registered you will be able to schedule appointments and request materials and other services online. Additionally, your account will also keep track of all of the resources you’ve used and allow you to view the status of your requests. You will only need to register once but note that you will need to renew your account annually to keep it active.

Appointments are not required; however, they are strongly encouraged! A lot of our materials are stored offsite, and they may take up to 48 hours to retrieve before they can be used in a Reading Room. Therefore, we cannot promise that we will be able to immediately fulfill all materials requests made by walk-in visitors.

After you have registered you will be able to make an appointment online. Please note that appointments must be made at least 48-hours in advance of your visit. Should you need to view materials sooner, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Video Aids

The following are permitted in our Reading Rooms: a cell phone, a digital camera, a tablet or laptop computer (without case or sleeve), and any chargers. Pencils may be used to take notes on loose leaf paper provided by Reading Room staff. Also, be sure to bring a photo ID. All other personal belongings should be stowed in an A&SC locker.

Please DO NOT BRING pens, notebooks, bags, drinks, or food into the Reading Rooms. See our Policies and Procedures for more information.

If you think you might request photocopies or quick scans, they are $0.50 per page, payable by cash or check.

If you haven’t already, you will need to create an account in the A&SC Aeon Research Portal. Once you’ve created your account you will be able to request reproductions through the Library Catalog, Finding Aids, and Digital Collections. More information on reproduction services and costs can be found on our Ordering Reproductions page.

Video Aids

Requesting Reproductions

We do! If you are a Pitt affiliate who has already configured your laptop to access the Pitt network on campus, you will have immediate access. If you do not have a Pitt computing account, we can give you temporary guest access while you are visiting with us. It just takes a few minutes to set up. We can also take care of this before you arrive if you let us know in advance.

Absolutely! For more information about scheduling and the type of instruction sessions that we offer, please check out this guide. You can also contact us to schedule a visit or for more information.

A&SC has scanned material from several of our collections that you can view online. Our Digital Collections website provides information about many of our digitized collections, and some of our collection guides also include links to digitized content.

If you can’t find what you're looking for at Archives & Special Collections, we encourage you to contact some of Pittsburgh’s other research institutions, including:

Students currently enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh are eligible to apply for positions and internships at the A&SC. Check out the current ULS student job opportunities on Talent Center or contact us if you are interested in working with us.

If you are interested in donating historical records, rare books, or other items that fall under our purview, please contact us. We’d love to talk with you!

Yes! Please visit our Student Organization Records Toolkit to learn more about how student groups can maintain their records or donate them to the archives. You can also contact us for more information.

The Archives & Special Collections Department at Pitt, along with many other peer institutions, acknowledges failures in past descriptive practices of archival content. To address this, A&SC has undertaken an effort to review, remove, or contextualize harmful, offensive, misrepresentative, and racist language in our collection descriptions. You can read more about this effort here.

University of Pittsburgh Library System