Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

The Harry Ransom Center is pleased to announce the implementation
of Aeon, a special collections circulation management system.

What is Aeon?

Aeon is a program that allows researchers to manage their personal information and collection material requests online. It replaces two previous systems at the Ransom Center: our staff-only Patron Database and the triplicate paper call-slip paging system.

Beginning April 1, all existing and new patrons will create research accounts online. Patrons will no longer submit call slips. Instead, patrons will request all collection materials online within their research accounts.

How will this change help me with my research at the Ransom Center?

• You can prepare and save requests for collection materials online in advance of your visit. Upon arrival, you can submit your requests with the click of a button.
• You can track the status of your requests online: for instance, you can see whether an item is being paged, on hold, or checked in.
• You won’t need to transcribe book information onto call slips. Items in the UT Libraries Catalog may be requested automatically by clicking the new "Request Item" button in the catalog record. This button will appear beginning April 1.
• If you are a remote researcher communicating with a staff member, you and the staff member can manage your requests together within your online research account.
• You can view a detailed history of every request you have ever made in your research account.

How will this change help me with my teaching at the Ransom Center?

• With the assistance of Ransom Center staff, you will set up class visits as "Events" within your research account. Collection material requests for these events will be separated from requests for your personal research projects, allowing you to manage multiple projects easily.
• After your class has visited the Ransom Center, a record of the class will remain in your research account permanently. If you decide to return to view the same materials in a future semester, you can view a detailed history of your requests for the original class.
• Multiple patrons can request material for a class: co-instructors of a course, students, and Ransom Center staff can all request materials for your class within their own research accounts.

How do I start using the system on the launch date?

Beginning on April 1, all research-related pages on the Ransom Center website will include a link to the research account page in a box on the upper right hand side of the page. Click this link to set up your research account.

All existing and new patrons will be required to create a research account.

What are future plans for Aeon at the Ransom Center?

• Ransom Center programmers are currently working to enhance our online finding aids and databases so that many of our manuscripts and visual materials can be requested with a single click of a button. These revised pages will be mounted on the computers in the Reading and Viewing Room.
• In a future stage of implementation, patrons will make and track all photoduplication orders in their online research accounts.

Why is the Ransom Center implementing this system?

Requests made in this system are more flexible, efficient, and accurate when compared to requests made on paper call-slips. By allowing patrons access to their own accounts, we can be confident that patron information is up to date.

Who produced this system?

Aeon is produced by Atlas Systems, the same company that produced ILLiad, the Interlibrary Loan management system used by the UT Libraries and over 1,000 institutions worldwide. The Ransom Center is the first special collections institution to implement Aeon. You can learn more about Atlas and Aeon at this link:

http://www.atlas-sys.com/products/aeon