I've been planning a visit to the NARA DC location for research and access to newspaper articles and any similar publications following the Union naval ironclad USS Monitor sinking on December 31, 1862.
With only a week left in town I've decided to walk in off the street and begin the process of gaining access to the Reading Room (as it's referred to on their official website). Having never done this before I would be so thankful if anyone could share their in-person researching experience at a NARA location and any etiquette tips e.g. how should I dress (more comfortable or professional)?
I have good news for you. The place is very noob-friendly. I presume you are referring to the main facility in College Park MD, but if you are looking at the one in DC city itself, my experience in a regional archive is that the system is generally similar at other locations.
About all I'll say is that you can dress as you like as long as it's not offensive, you will go through airport security, and you will have to leave all unapproved items in the locker.
You will not be permitted to browse the archive collection itself. You will need to fill out a requisition form (determined by the finding aids in the Research Assistance room), submit that, wait for the 'pull', and then the requested materials will be brought out to you.
The entire system will seem at first like it's a prison environment, with a whole slew of rules thrown at you, and staff patrolling the reading room to make sure you're following them. Don't worry, I have found them all to be extremely helpful and friendly, they're just trying to preserve the archive materials. But the rules are not in any way flexible. If you miss the pull deadline by even one minute, for example, you're stuck until the next one, anything from one hour through 2.5 hours later.
I wrote an article about my experience here. http://worldoftanks.com/en/news/pc-browser/21/us-national-archives/
In terms of time allocation, as a newbie, I will tell you it won't be as quick as you think it will be.
From when you get through security, budget at least a half hour to read the rules and get an ID card. Then another ten minutes to go to the locker downstairs and drop all unauthorized stuff. (BRING A QUARTER! (You get it back). Go through the first check in desk, they will check you for contraband such as pens and stamp any material you bring in. Go up one floor to the reading room. Check in at the desk. Then go to the research assistance room (left of the door). Find one of the helpful folks who works there, they all wear neck lanyards to hold their ID badges. They'll walk you through the process of using a finding aid and filling out the requisition slip. This will take about twenty minutes to half an hour. You then have to wait until "pull time", at which all the slips are taken around back. It's generally once an hour. It then takes from half an hour to an hour for your requested materials to be retrieved. You're on your own time from then. You can have two and a half pulls (each pull is 24 boxes) active at any one time. One in your possession, the rest in a 'cache' around the back, which is held there until you release it, so if you're worried that you won't find everything you want in the first pull, fill out a second form while you're waiting to see what comes out of the first pull. For your first visit, do not expect to be out before lunch. Things get easier with practice.