Book a research visit

Requesting material

You are welcome to consult original material from our Documentary Heritage collections in the Research Library, which is open from 10am to 3pm Monday to Friday, and from 10am to 5pm on Saturdays.

To maximise the use of your time, please give us at least one working day’s advance notice; this allows us to provide a more efficient service, and means that we can have material prepared before you arrive.

Please do a preliminary search on Collections Online for the material you wish to order, and contact us if you require any guidance on the size or scope of a particular collection.

To book a time to visit, please use our contact form: choose "Documentary Heritage," then "Research" from the options, then complete the form that appears.

At right: Menu card for dinner aboard the RRS Discovery. British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04). EPH-SCI-8-5.

Retrieval times

With enough notice, material can be prepared in advance of your visit. However you can also make requests on the day. These will be fulfilled at the following intervals:

Weekday schedule

Requests made between...	...will be fulfilled at...
10.00am and 10.30am	10.45am
10.30am and 11.45am	12.00pm
11.45am and 1.15pm	1.30pm

Requests made after 1.30pm can be fulfilled at 10am the next weekday.

Access restrictions (as noted on collection records) may apply to certain items, and some items cannot be retrieved and must be viewed digitally. Requests for large-format items and requests for significant volumes of material in a single order may take longer to be fulfilled.

Saturday schedule

Requests made between...	...will be fulfilled at...
10.00am and 10.30am	10.45am
10.30am and 11.45am	12.00pm
11.45am and 2.00pm	2.15pm
2.00pm and 3.15pm	2.30pm

Please note that for security reasons certain items cannot be retrieved on Saturdays; we will advise you ahead of time if this is the case with any of the items in your request.

At left: Poster for the 1978 exhibition TAPA. EPH-PT-6-206.

Guidelines for Access to Documentary Heritage Material

Researchers are asked to abide by the following guidelines, which govern the handling and use of documentary-heritage material:

Material may be viewed only in the Reading Room and must be handled with care. Supports and tools (pillows, cradles, page-weights etc.) must be used if supplied.
Eating and drinking are prohibited.
Bags, coats, and other personal belongings should be stored in a locker.
Only pencils may be used to take notes.
Surrogates of fragile and restricted materials are issued in preference to originals, which would be issued only at the discretion of Documentary Heritage staff.
Copying, personal photography and Image Orders:
1. All copying must comply with the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994.
2. Copies are generally provided solely for the purposes of private research; the sale, letting for-hire or reduplication of such copies is prohibited by the Act.
3. Personal photography:
  1. Researchers may take photographs of material (for private research purposes only) using their own equipment, but such images cannot be published, displayed in public, or transmitted via any electronic medium without permission.
  2. Flash photography is prohibited, and camera sound-effects must be disabled.
  3. Researchers undertaking personal photography accept full responsibility for determining if it exceeds the limits of fair dealing as outlined in the Copyright Act, which prohibits the sale, letting-for-hire or reduplication of such images.
Original material may be photocopied by staff only, at their discretion.
An Image Order may be requested where photocopying is not possible or if personal photography is insufficient, or if images are required for publication purposes.
In certain cases, terms of donation or other conditions may outright prohibit copying.

At right: Prospectus for the 1971 season of the Auckland Football Association Club. EPH-HRC-7-37.