Laptop computers may be brought into the room after their cases have been removed and stored in lockers. All books, folders, and other materials are examined by staff before readers exit. Persons using items in the vault, including the Thomas Wolfe Collection, the Sir Walter Raleigh Collection, the Bruce Cotten Collection, and other specially designated items, are subject to further restrictions. Preservation considerations may limit use of some materials, and photocopying of brittle or fragile items is not permitted. Almost all materials in the North Carolina Collection are housed in closed stacks and retrieved by staff.
Staff are also available to assist researchers.
Although extensive research cannot be undertaken by staff, basic reference assistance is also provided by mail, regular or electronic. The library's online catalog is available on the Internet as well as on local public terminals, but since most of the North Carolina Collection's holdings are not yet online, researchers should also consult the paper card catalog in the Reading Room. Additional finding aids include an imprint file for items printed in North Carolina through 1880, an index to compiled biographies, telephone and city directory databases, and indexes to book reviews and other literary criticism for North Carolina authors. Staff will retrieve up to four individual items at a time for each researcher. Though items are usually retrieved within a few minutes, there may occasionally be a longer wait.