Research Visits
In order to protect our materials, we ask researchers to follow these rules:
- You must register with the Archives & Special Collections librarian when you enter the reading room and provide a valid Benedictine ID, U.S. driver’s license or state ID, or passport.
- Enjoy your food and drinks in the other areas of the library before or after your visit. No food and drink is permitted in the reading room because they can damage materials.
- Leave all coats and bags, including laptop cases, with the librarian. Only appropriate research tools (notebooks, pencils, laptop computers, digital cameras) may be brought into the room.
- Be gentle with materials and keep documents in the order in which you find them.
- Do not mark any materials and use only pencils for taking written notes.
- Copying will be done by archives staff unless permission is given by the archivist. Due to the fragility of some materials, the archivist reserves the right to refuse copy requests.
- Check with the archivist before taking photos or scanning material. Some materials may have restrictions on their use.
- If you plan to use an image or excerpt in a print or Web publication (including research papers, articles, and blogs or other social media), you must contact the librarian.
Copying, Scanning, and Photographing Items
In most cases, you may take a personal digital photo of paper and photographic items. Please check with the archivist before doing so since some materials have legal restrictions on their use. In many cases, we can help you make a scan or copy of an item. Because materials are fragile and because we have a small staff, there are some limitations on the volume and completion rate of duplications.
- Copying and scanning must be done by a library staff member. We do not loan materials out for this purpose.
- Materials are scanned at 800 dpi resolution and are generally delivered as a JPEG or TIFF by email. Other delivery arrangements may be made for large volume or file sizes.
- Small requests are provided free of charge. because of the staff time and equipment involved, large copying and scanning requests may require fees. Fees will be determined in consultation with archive staff based on the volume and nature of the project.
- We reserve the right to decline any duplication or photocopying request in whole or in part.
- Duplication requests will be processed in the order received.
- We complete duplication requests as quickly as we can based on staff availability and other orders received; we regret that we cannot always guarantee filling of rush orders by specific dates.
- Some items may not be available for duplication in accordance with US Copyright Law (title 17, U.S. Code) or due to donor restrictions. Staff will help you determine how best to work with these items.
- Some items are in formats for which we do not have the required technology or which require specialized tools to make copies (e.g. audiocassettes, reel-to-reel audio, 8mm & 16 mm film, U-matic, etc.). Duplication may not be possible or may involve fees depending on the item.
Publishing and Releasing of Media
- You must request permission from the Archives & Special Collections librarian to publish or to release media created employing the contents of Archives and Special Collections materials. This includes but is not limited to use of photographs, images, and excerpts in articles, papers, Websites, blogs, and social media.
- Whenever possible, we grant one-time publication and media production rights to applicants. In granting single-work permission to publish or to produce media, Benedictine University does not surrender its own right to publish or to release media created from materials in its collections or to grant permission to others to publish them.
- If single-work, one-time permission to publish or to release media is granted, you must indicate the location of the cited material in the published work. Refer to our Citing Archives Materials page for guidelines.
- We request that researchers donate a copy of all publications or media works that rely heavily on the collections of the Benedictine University Archives to the Library upon publication or release.
- Benedictine University does not assume responsibility for infringement of copyright in the material held by others.
