Approved by Dean Stanfield; Updated September 2022
Supporting access to, and encouraging use of, primary source materials for the purposes of teaching, learning, scholarship, and community engagement is central to the mission of Ingram Library’s Special Collections. We do so in balance with the conservation needs of these rare and sometimes fragile items and our limited resources.
Special Collections facilitates use of these materials by allowing use of personal cameras, offering reproduction services for archival materials, offering resource sharing services for select print materials, and granting permission to publish.
In order to ensure the careful handling of Special Collections materials, all copying is done by Special Collections staff. Personal duplication equipment, like flatbed scanners and hand-held scanners, or other tools that have direct contact with the surface of the materials, are not allowed in the Research Room without prior permission.
Personal cameras may be used onsite in the Special Collections Research Room. Researchers may take photographs of collection materials for educational or study purposes only. This may be restricted based on the size or physical condition of the materials, copyright status, or conditions placed on the collection by the donor. Please ask for assistance in setting up the research materials for photography. We have book supports, book weights, and other devices that can help improve visibility of the materials while also protecting their physical integrity.
Special Collections reserves the right to determine whether or not an item may be scanned or photocopied. This may be restricted based on the size or physical condition of the materials, format of materials, copyright status, or conditions placed on the collection by the donor.
Special Collections reserves the right to impose total limits on duplication requests if fulfillment impacts our ability to provide effective and equitable service to all researchers. Reproduction orders are prioritized to serve students and UWG campus community first. There is a maximum order limit of fifty (50) items of “regular” scans and ten (10) “high-resolution image file” scans per academic term per researcher or requesting entity.
Audio recordings (reel-to-reel, audio cassettes, VHS tapes, etc.) in Special Collections can only be listened to or viewed if a user copy is available because of the fragility of the formats. If a user copy does not exist, a digital reproduction can be made at the researcher's expense.
Reproduction requests for audio-visual materials are at the discretion of library staff in consideration of the condition of the original media and the time and labor requirements to produce digital file/s. Reproduction requests are limited to one hour of staff time. This includes, but is not limited to: digitization, metadata creation, transportation/shipping, and other tasks associated with audio-visual material orders. Digitization for audio-visual materials may be done by external vendors.
Audio-visual materials digitization work is completed through select external vendors who have expertise in preserving, repairing, and otherwise handling archival materials. Special Collections reserves the right to offer digitization services to researchers of only those vendors that meet archival handling qualifications.
Certain materials cannot be copied because of restrictions placed upon the item by the donor or agency of origin. In every case, copyright law (Title 17 of the U.S. Code) and the doctrine of educational fair use (Section 107 of H.R. 2223) applies.
Researchers must adhere to all citing and publication procedures.
If a user copy does not already exist, a digital reproduction can be made at the researcher's expense. Special Collections will provide a list of digitization vendors with expertise in archival materials. Special Collections then requests bids, copying the requesting researcher so the researcher can select the vendor. The vendor will bill the requesting researcher directly for reproduction services. Reproduction requests, if beyond one hour of staff preparation time, will also incur additional fees charged by Special Collections to at $13 per hour. This fee covers the labor in creating a required metadata spreadsheet, packing materials, and shipping costs. An invoice, payable by check or credit card, will be emailed to the requesting researcher at the time the audio-visual materials are shipped to the vendor for digitization. Special Collections does not offer rush services; digitization vendors may charge rush fees.
Scan or paper copy orders will be completed at a rate achievable by Special Collections staff in consideration of other workloads and in consideration of prioritized reproductions for UWG students, faculty, and staff. Orders may take up to 8 weeks to complete. An invoice, payable by check or credit card, will be enclosed or emailed to the requesting researcher along with the reproductions.
Researchers seeking full access to a particular book or other monograph or serially published item in our holdings may contact their local public library or affiliated academic library’s Resource Sharing office to inquire about interlibrary loan of the item.
Ingram Library’s Special Collections may not possess the intellectual rights to many of the materials in our collections. Researchers wishing to publish materials from Special Collections are responsible for securing permission to publish from rights holders. Special Collections staff will provide limited initial assistance to patrons investigating copyright matters for materials they wish to publish.
Rights holding information for the creators of archival collections may be included in the online finding aid.
For assistance with researching rights holders, researchers may wish to consult the following resources:
Researchers, to obtain permission to publish, as the University of West Georgia’s Ingram Library physically owns the materials, must complete and return a Permission to Publish form.
For more information, please contact Special Collections at special@westga.edu.