How to Register + Request Materials - Visiting Special Collections - LibGuides at UVa Library
Visiting Special Collections
Plan a Visit to the Reading Room
How to Register + Request Materials
Create Your Special Collections Account
Request Materials & Create Appointment
Troubleshooting
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Charlottesville and Albemarle History and Research LibGuide
FAQs
Appointments
Appointments are not required. If you have trouble signing up for a Special Collections account or requesting materials beforehand, Reading Room staff members are available to assist you during your visit.
However, creating an appointment allows library staff to have requested materials pulled and ready when you arrive.
Please see
Reading Room Policies
for more information.
Computers
Computers are available for researchers at the Small Special Collections Library for researchers to utilize to make additional requests or if you would like a staff member to help walk you through any part of the research process.
Create Your Special Collections Account
In this video, we will walk you through creating a
Special Collections account
, which is required to request and view materials in the Reading Room. This is separate from your UVA Library account (if you have one).
Step-by-step instructions for creating an account
Please create a Special Collections account by going to the Albert and Shirley Small Library
home page
and following the instructions below:
Click the blue
Sign In or Create account
button on the righthand side of home page.
Sign in as UVA or non UVA user.
Click on the
First Time Users
link.
Agree to the
Small Reading Room User Agreement
by using the
First Time Users Click Here
button at the bottom of the page.
Complete and submit the
New User Registration Form.
After submitting the
New User Registration Form
you will be directed to your new Special Collections account homepage and you may start requesting materials. A separate request will need to be made for each item you wish to view.
Request Materials & Create Appointment
In this video, we will walk you through searching our catalogue, requesting materials, and creating an appointment to view them in the Reading Room
Requesting Materials from a Virgo catalog record
1. If you have already located an item of interest in the online
Virgo
catalog click on the blue title.
2. Scroll down on the
Item Detail
page to the
Availability
section and choose
Request this in Special Collections.
3. Open the drop down menu labelled
Select the Item you want
by clicking on the down arrow and selecting the box/volume of your choice.
If there is no dropdown menu available please use the
Add additional instructions if necessary
comment box to note your chosen box/volume (if your collection contains only one box or there is no choice of volumes just click
Next Step: Go to the Special Collections Request System
).
After making your selection from the dropdown menu click
Next Step
4. You will be directed to sign in to your Special Collections account as a UVA or non UVA user.
5. After sign in you will be directed to a
New Manuscript/Archives Request OR New Book and Printed Materials Request
form.
6. Scroll down on the form past the
Item Information
field (this information will be imported automatically from the Virgo record) to the
Request Information
field and click on the blue
Schedule Appointment
button.
7. Choose your date and time of visit. Please choose 1 hour for
Length of  Appointment
time even if you plan to stay for multiple hours or the whole day. Click the blue
Create Appointment
button.
8. Click the blue
Submit Request
button at the bottom of the page. Your first request has now been submitted and you will be directed back to your Special Collections account homepage.
9. If you wish to make further requests use the
New Requests
bar then choose
Search Virgo
. Follow the above steps for each item you would like to request.
10. Remember that up to 6 requests are permitted at a time in the Reading Room, however, further requests may be saved to your queue using the
Save Request for Later
feature instead of
Submit Request.
11.
Save Request for Later
materials may be submitted during your visit from your Special Collections account as you finish with each material and return it to a Reading Room staff member.
Requesting Materials from your Special Collections account
Navigate to the Small Special Collections
homepage
and scroll down to the blue
Sign in or Create Account
button.
You will be directed to sign in to your Special Collections account as a UVA or non UVA user.
From the sign in page you will be directed to your Special Collections account homepage. Use the
New Requests
and
Search Virgo
to locate materials of interest.
Once you have located an item of interest in the online
Virgo
catalog click on the blue title.
Scroll down on the
Item Detail
page to the
Availability
section and choose
Request this in Special Collections.
Open the drop down menu labelled
Select the Item you want
by clicking on the down arrow and selecting the box/volume of your choice.
If there is no dropdown menu available please use the
Add additional instructions if necessary
comment box to note your chosen box/volume (if your collection contains only one box or there is no choice of volumes just click
Next Step: Go to the Special Collections Request System
).
After making your selection from the dropdown menu click
Next Step
You will be directed to sign in to your Special Collections account as a UVA or non UVA user.
After sign in you will be directed to a
New Manuscript/Archives Request OR New Book and Printed Materials Request
form.
Scroll down on the form past the
Item Information
field (this information will be imported automatically from the Virgo record) to the
Request Information
field and click on the blue
Schedule Appointment
button.
Choose your date and time of visit. Please choose 1 hour for
Length of  Appointment
time even if you plan to stay for multiple hours or the whole day. Click the blue
Create Appointment
button.
Click the blue
Submit Request
button at the bottom of the page. Your first request has now been submitted and you will be directed back to your Special Collections account homepage.
If you wish to make further requests use the
New Requests
bar then choose
Search Virgo
. Follow the above steps for each item you would like to request.
Remember that up to 6 requests are permitted at a time in the Reading Room, however, further requests may be saved to your queue using the
Save Request for Later
feature instead of
Submit Request.
Save Request for Later
materials may be submitted during your visit from your Special Collections account as you finish with each material and return it to a Reading Room staff member.
Troubleshooting
Sign-in issue
Request Limits
Error message
When you are searching our collection in Virgo, do not click the Sign in button on the top right of the page; that is the sign in button for the main UVA Library, not Special Collections. You can sign into your Special Collections account
here
, or you will be prompted to sign-in when you request an item.
Researchers are able to request six items at a time for their Reading Room appointment. However, further requests may be saved to your queue using the
Save Request for Later
feature instead of
Submit Request.
When you return materials in the Reading Room, you are able to submit these requests from your queue; the staff pull new materials every half hour.
If you are getting an error message that says "Your single sign-in username could not be used to create a new aeon account," please contact the Reference Team at
scpubserv@virginia.edu
and we will fix your account.
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Apr 7, 2026 8:49 AM
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