Rare Books: Submitting a Request & Booking an Appointment

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Before You Begin

For same-day appointments, please first call the library at 416-585-4470 or visit us in-person to determine if an appointment is available. Researchers must submit their requests for rare books by either 10:30 am or 2:30 pm on the day they want to consult them.

Materials are available for consultation only after you receive an email confirming your appointment. Please visit Consulting Our Rare Book Collections for information that we require for each request.

Submitting a Request to Consult Rare Books

For same-day appointments, please first call the library at 416-585-4470 or visit us in-person to determine if an appointment is available.

  1. Navigate to the library catalogue (called LibrarySearch) and locate the title that you would like to request for consultation
  2. In the catalogue listing for the title, select Special Collections Access
  3. This will direct you to your Special Collections Access account:
    1. If you currently don’t have an account, please consult the instructions on registering for first-time users
    2. If you are not already logged in, enter your UTORid and password (or your username and password if you are a visiting researcher)
  4. Review the information associated with the book you are requesting to ensure it is complete
  5. Navigate to Appointment:
    1. Click on Schedule a New Appointment: requesting rare books, step 5b
    2. Select the date and time of your visit and click on Create Appointment:
      requesting rare books step 5c
  6. Click on Submit Request to complete it:
    requesting rare books, step 6
  7. For same-day appointments, please call the library at 416-585-4470 or visit us in-person to modify your appointment time to the same day
  8. If you would like to request additional books, repeat the above steps.

Last updated: January 28, 2025