As of 2021, Merritt Room materials are made available to patrons in the Houghton Library Reading Room.
...
The next steps in processing requests for MERR MERRHOU items (held onsite in the Merritt Room or the Cage) and MERRHD HDMERRHOU items (held at the Harvard Depository) are outlined below.
...
- Route the request to In Item Retrieval.
- Print the Aeon request slip.
- Page the item, leaving the Item In Use half of the slip on the shelf.
- Evaluate the item for conservation issues. If none, proceed. If concerned, place them item on hold, contact conservation liaison and email patron if they have specified a visit date in the near future.
- Route the request to Item on Hold. Change site to HOU.
- Place the item in a blue transfer bin with protective padding. Print or hand-write a slip reading Special Collections, Houghton Library, Attention: Ramon Cartwright and place it in the clear plastic sleeve affixed to the front of the bin. Zip-tie the bin closed and leave it on the large desk at the back of the Merritt Room.
- Alert Circulation Desk staff that HUMS will be coming the next day and that a staff member will be needed to escort HUMS staff to the Merritt Room upon arrival. Note that special collections materials may only be transferred between Harvard Library repositories using one of two methods: hand-carried by two Harvard Library staff members (or a staff member and a student worker), or shipped by HUMS. For routine transfers of Merritt Room materials to Houghton Library, HUMS is preferred. To request a pick-up, email hd_trans@harvard.edu copying Music and Public Services Assistant Josh Kantor or Houghton Library Public Services if he is not scheduled to work or phone 496-MAIL. Sample email text: "There is a blue HUMS bin in the Music Library that is ready to be delivered to Houghton Library. Because the bin contains rare materials, it is being held in a locked room (the Merritt Room). When the courier visits the Music Library to pick up the bin, they should tell the person at the library's front desk that they're picking up a blue bin from the Merritt Room. The person at the front desk can notify a library staff member to retrieve the bin and bring it to the courier."
- Alert HOU staff (ideally Circulation and Collections Coordinator Ramon Cartwright, or Houghton Library Public Services if he is not scheduled to work) that HUMS will be delivering a bin the next day.
- When the item is ready for refile, it will be packed in a bin by HOU staff. HOU staff will request a HUMS pick-up and alert MUS staff of delivery by emailing the Music Library at muslib@fas.harvard.edu.
- MUS staff receive the bin, unpack the item, place the request in In Item Reshelving status, reshelve the item and finish the request.
...