Reading Room Guidelines

SCUA Reading Room Guidelines

1. Patrons may bring only pencils, notebooks/paper, laptops, phones, tablets or cameras into the Reading Room. All other items including bags, outerwear, pens, and food/drink including water bottles are prohibited. A locker will be provided to the patron upon their request.
2. Cell phones and other devices should be silenced to avoid disturbing other researchers.
3. Patrons must always sit facing the reference desk.
4. Researchers may use one item/box at a time.
   1. Materials must be kept in the folder and in their original order. To ensure that materials remain organized, only one folder may be removed from a box or container at a time.
5. The researcher is responsible for the careful handling of all materials, and should adhere to the following:
   1. Collections should be handled with clean, dry hands.
   2. Extra care should be taken when handling large volumes, brittle pages, and in opening folded plates and maps.
   3. Materials may not be leaned on, written on, altered, folded, traced over, or otherwise handled in any way that may damage them.
   4. Book cradles and weights should be used to support all books in our collection. The researcher should ask the reading room attendant for these as well as any pencils, paper, rulers or magnifying nglasses needed.
6. Only non-flash photography with handheld cameras/phones are permitted.
   1. Special Collections staff may limit photography due to preservation, copyright, or other concerns.
7. Researchers may request scans of materials for personal or scholarly use. If a patron wishes to have an item scanned, please alert the reading room attendant.
   1. To request scans, a staff member can provide paper flags that the researcher can place in front of every unique item to be scanned.
   2. Researchers must write in pencil the following: Last name-first initial, MSS #, Box #, Folder #, Unique description of the item (preferably something numeric, i.e. date; or if nothing numeric, a brief description of the item), number of pages (front and back, or whole document) OR have flags marking the first and last page of multi-sheet items to be scanned (last flag should be marked “stop”). Patrons should also write “SCANS” on the patron call slip associated with the box they are requesting scans from. The default file type is high resolution individual JPEGs (patrons should specify if an alternate file type is needed).
   3. Flagged items will be scanned and sent to the researcher electronically. Any request over 50 pages will need to be discussed with the Public Services Manager. Please be advised that receipt of scans can take at least 2 weeks to process.
8. Researchers should sign out at the reference desk when they are done for the day, or their research visit has concluded. They should also communicate with the reading room attendant on whether they are done using their requested collection items, or if they intend to schedule another appointment.
9. Materials from Vanderbilt University Special Collections should be cited using the following format: Title of the Collection, Box and/or folder # (if applicable), Special Collections and University Archives Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. *If using material from the History of Medicine Collections at Eskind Biomedical Library, please use that for Library.
10.  Special Collections and University Archives reserves the right to set restrictions on access, photography, and reproduction of archival materials. Researchers should read and follow the guidelines above and should reach out to the Public Services Manager if there are any questions or concerns. Researchers who do not follow the guidelines as listed above may be removed from the building and permission for use and access of
    Special Collections items may be withdrawn.

Photography Release

Vanderbilt University Special Collections provides access to rare and distinctive books, manuscripts, photographs, audio-visual materials, and archival collections that enrich scholarship, education, and discovery. In doing so, we comply with United States copyright law and its applicable exceptions. Due to the nature of our collections, many of the copyrights to these materials are in the public domain, but others belong to the creators or their estates. While users are free to copy reasonable amounts from these collections for their educational, scholarly, and private use, they must receive written permission from the rights holders before publishing from our collections. Questions about rights holders may be directed to Special Collections staff, but we are unable to arrange permission unless all rights are held by Vanderbilt.

The user assumes all responsibility for questions of copyright and invasion of privacy which may arise in the copying and in the use of the photographs of materials in our collections. The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Vanderbilt University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims that may arise from the use of the image.