Technical help and guidance

SHD is committed to helping you find the documents most likely to contain the information you are looking for, whether on-site, by telephone, or online.

In the reading rooms

The reading room staff will help you identify which collections and departments are relevant to your research and will then direct you towards all the different research tools (lists, card indexes and files, catalogues) available to help you find the item reference number or ID of the records or library documents you wish to view.

In some circumstances (for example for a collection in the process of being classified), you will be offered an appointment with a specialist advisor.

Telephone or online help

Consulting the online research help pages and the section guide to the collections is an essential first step, which in many cases will help you decide whether or not you need to visit the reading room in person to consult the research tools and then if applicable submit a request to view the documents of interest to you.

In the event that the information available online does not provide the guidance you need, we will let you know by post or email:

- if the information that you are looking for is likely to be held in the SHD's record or library collections and if so, at which site and in which section;

- what research tools are available to you (e.g. ones which can only be consulted in reading rooms, ones which are published and on sale or ones which can be consulted on the Internet);

- where there is no research tool relevant to your request or if the tool is not available to consult in a reading room, details of the person you should contact to arrange a research session.

January 2011