The Field Reading Room is reserved for users of Special Collections and University Archives materials. Because the vast majority of the department's holdings are unique, rare, or extremely fragile, we ask patrons to help us preserve these materials for future scholars by following these special handling requirements:
- Arrive with clean hands, washed with only soap and water. Lotions are to be avoided before handling materials as they contain harmful residues.
- Special Collections materials do not circulate.
- Food and drink are not permitted.
- All personal belongings, except those necessary for research (such as single sheets of paper, pencils, cell phones, and laptop computers), should be placed in the reading room lockers. This includes coats, backpacks, three-ring binders, spiral bound notebooks, and laptop cases. Legal pads and laptop cases will also need to be placed inside a locker.
- All books must be used in a foam cradle. A staff member will provide you with the appropriate cradle and book weights.
- Manuscript and archival materials must lie flat on the tables; do not place items in your lap or hold them up. Do not rest objects or take notes on top of materials.
- Nitrile gloves may be required to handle some of our materials, particularly negatives, photographs, metal objects, and prints. A staff member will provide a pair for you. Our gloves are both latex and powder free.
- Photography is allowed; however, there is a strict protocol for following procedures which will be explained at the Reading Room desk.
- Personal copiers and scanners are not allowed.
- Researchers are allowed to view five books at one time.
- Researchers are allowed to use one box and one folder from the box at a time. Please take care to keep the documents in the file in the order in which you found them.
- The use of cell phones (other than for photography) is prohibited.
Duplication
Scanning is done by Special Collections staff only. Staff will decline scanning requests if the materials are fragile or may be damaged by the duplication process.
Providing reproductions does not constitute permission to publish or reproduce images in print or electronic form. For more information regarding our duplication services, please see our section on requesting copies. Please note that we do not reproduce entire books or manuscript boxes (or substantial portions of either) unless authorized.
Digital camera use
The use of personal cameras in the Field Reading Room is managed by Public Services, Department of Special Collections and University Archives. One is allowed to take photographs of materials but must sign a "Digital Release Form" prior to all photography; the photographic protocols will be explained in detail upon entry into the Reading Room. Digital surrogates taken by researchers are for private research and not for publication. Fragile, damaged or restricted items will not be duplicated in any way and entire books or manuscript boxes (or substantial portions of either) will not be digitally reproduced unless otherwise authorized.
The Department grants researchers the privilege of using their personal digital cameras to make digital surrogates of materials in the reading room at no charge and under the following conditions:
Material review
Not all material may be photographed and the Department reserves the right to deny permission. Digital camera use is subject to the material’s condition, copyright laws, donor-imposed restrictions, and specific conditions and arrangements for preservation. Staff must review all material before an appointment will be scheduled. Oversize items, records or documents in fragile condition, or those already available in microfilm or digital form, are not typically available for digital copying. If an item’s condition dictates that a digital photocopy can be made by staff only, departmental digital copy charges will apply.
Handling and care
The preservation needs of the material outweigh the technical limitations of the camera. Researchers must be familiar and experienced in the proper handling of material or receive instruction prior to the start of their appointment. Patrons may not push on bindings or hold materials up in order to obtain a better quality picture. Archival and manuscript material must remain flat on the table; books must remain in foam cradles with book weights used to hold pages flat. Flash photography is prohibited. Any instance of flash photography, mistreatment and/or damage to materials during an appointment will result in an immediate termination of the session with no option to reschedule in the future.
Equipment requirements and restrictions
Cameras should have a manual setting and allow a long exposure since flash photography is prohibited. The following equipment cannot be used to make digital reproductions: personal scanners, tripods, extension cords, and flash photography. Patrons may not under any circumstances stand on reading room chairs or place materials on the floor in order to obtain a better photograph. Staff will request that a test shot be taken before an appointment begins in order to insure the flash is disabled.
Copyright compliance
It is the policy of Special Collections that no entire collection or book can be copied or photographed. Staff will provide researchers with a transparent template that must be included on each digital image.
Copyright declaration
Patrons agree to use digital surrogates made in the reading room for private research only. Images of materials made in the reading room may not be used for publication or use on a website without permission in writing from the department. Patrons must sign a copyright declaration form acknowledging that it is their responsibility to obtain relevant permission from copyright owners in the event they decide to publish their work.
Interlibrary loan materials
Special collections materials lent to Stanford University Special Collections and sent via ILL will not be digitally photographed in the Field reading room or reproduced in any way by Special Collections staff. Special collections materials borrowed from Stanford University Special Collections and sent via ILL to another institution can not be digitally photographed in any way.
Permission to publish or broadcast
Formal written permission is required from the Department of Special Collections and University Archives prior to publishing or rebroadcasting any item or work, in whole or in part, held by the Department. For permission to publish or quote from any of our materials, please submit your request via email to the Department of Special Collections.
To be processed, all permissions requests for published materials must include the title of the item from which the selected passages were selected, the call number of the item or collection, and the page number. For manuscript or archival materials, copyright permissions requests must include the name of the collection, the collection call number, and - if applicable - the series, box, and folder number(s) in which the selected materials are housed. Failure to provide such information can greatly slow down the permissions process, and can on occasion prevent the request from being honored altogether.
Please note that Special Collections cannot grant permissions requests for printed works that are still under copyright protection; for such items, the requestor must contact the publisher. Similarly, we cannot grant permissions requests for archival or manuscript collections for which we do not hold copyright.
While we do try to provide patrons with the contact information of the holders of copyright of archival and manuscripts holdings, often we do not have this information on file, nor do we have the staffing to conduct a copyright search for our researchers. In such cases, it is the researcher's responsibility to attempt to locate the copyright holder prior to publishing.
An excellent source of information on current copyrights in the United States is the U.S. Copyright Office, which hosts an online database of copyrights registered and renewed with the Copyright Office. Another resource is the WATCH File (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders), maintained by the Harry Ransom Center. The Ransom Center describes the Watch Files as a "database containing primarily the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom.
Access to personal health information in our collections
For collections that fall under our Access to Personal Health Information Policy, researchers must apply to the department in advance before consulting archival materials. The policy applies to collections or specific materials in collections that Special Collections and University Archives have identified as containing health information of individuals. If a collection falls under this policy, a note will be placed in the collection's finding aid and online catalog record. To determine whether a collection falls under this policy, please consult the bibliographic record for the collection. For further clarification, please contact Special Collections Public Services.