Heratio Help Center article. Category: Research / Bookings.

Reading Room Booking

A Guide for Researchers and Reading Room Staff

What is reading room booking?

Reading room booking lets an approved researcher reserve a visit to consult materials in person. You pick a room, choose a date and time, state your purpose, and optionally pre-request the archival items you want pulled before you arrive. Staff confirm the booking, check you in on the day, and check you out when you leave.

Researcher books -> Staff confirm -> Check in (arrival) -> Check out (departure)

Only researchers whose account status is approved can make a booking.

For Researchers

Making a booking

Open the booking form at /research/book from the Research sidebar ("Book Reading Room").

+------------------+
|  Choose a room   |
+--------+---------+
         |
         v
+------------------+
|  Pick date and   |
|  start/end time  |
+--------+---------+
         |
         v
+------------------+
|  State your      |
|  purpose         |
+--------+---------+
         |
         v
+------------------+
|  Pre-request     |
|  materials       |
|  (optional)      |
+--------+---------+
         |
         v
+------------------+
|  Submit          |
+------------------+

The booking form

Field	Notes
Select room	Radio buttons. Each room shows its capacity, any equipment, and a description.
Date	Required. Cannot be earlier than today.
Start time / End time	Required.
Purpose of visit	Required free-text description of what you intend to do.
Additional notes	Optional.
Material requests	Optional. A search box (type-ahead) lets you find and add archival items so they are ready when you arrive. Up to 20 items.

The sidebar shows your own details (name, email, institution) and any reading-room notices, such as bringing identification and the cancellation window.

After you book

When you submit, the booking is created with status pending and (if email notifications are enabled) you receive a confirmation email. The booking appears in your research workspace under your upcoming visits. You can open it again at /research/viewBooking/{id}.

Your booking moves through these states:

pending -> confirmed -> checked_in -> checked_out
                              \
                               -> no_show / cancelled

Status	Meaning
pending	Submitted, awaiting staff confirmation
confirmed	Staff have approved the visit
checked_in	You have arrived and signed in
checked_out	Your visit is complete
no_show	You did not arrive
cancelled	The booking was cancelled

For Reading Room Staff

Managing bookings

Open the bookings queue at /research/bookings (also reachable at /research/admin/bookings). From there you act on each booking:

Action	What it does
Confirm	Approves a pending booking and emails the researcher.
Check in	Records arrival and timestamps the visit.
Check out	Records departure, completes the booking, and marks all requested materials as returned.
No show	Marks a confirmed booking where the researcher did not arrive.
Cancel	Cancels the booking and emails the researcher.

Material requests

Each item a researcher pre-requests is tracked alongside the booking. Requests start as pending, can be marked retrieved when the item is ready, and are set to returned automatically at check-out.

Configuration

Reading rooms (name, description, capacity, equipment, advance-booking days, maximum booking hours) are maintained as records that drive the room selection list.
Email notifications for booking created, confirmed, and cancelled are controlled by the research_email_notifications setting in AHG Settings.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause
No "Book Reading Room" link	Your researcher account is not yet approved.
Cannot select a date	The date is in the past; pick today or later.
No rooms shown	No reading rooms have been configured yet.
Did not receive a confirmation email	Email notifications may be disabled in settings.

References

Source: packages/ahg-research/
Stored in: research_booking, research_material_request, research_reading_room

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