Reprographic Policies

We offer a variety of options for providing researchers with “fair use” copies of our holdings. These include allowing researchers to take their own images with their cameras and cell phones, providing a self-service scanner in our reading room, accepting limited scanning requests, and microfilming complete collections. We no longer provide photocopying.

Please note:

• Copies are for personal “fair-use” research use only.
• Copies do not convey copyright.
• Copies do not convey permission to publish.

If you think you may wish to publish from our holdings, please review our "permission to publish" guidelines.

Personal Photography

You are welcome to photograph our holdings using your own camera (including a tripod) as long as you do not use flash. Such images are for personal “fair-use” research use only, do not convey copyright, and do not convey permission to publish. For permission to publish, please contact us. For fair-use research images, many researchers have found cell-phone cameras to be more than satisfactory.

Please observe the following rules when using personal cameras.

• Turn off all flash and sound elements. 
• If photographing archival material, fill out a digital reproduction agreement at the reference desk.
• Place any archival items you photograph or scan on top of their file folder and ensure that the folder identification information is clearly legible in your image.

Self-Service Scanning

We no longer provide photocopying. Instead, we have replaced our reading room photocopier with a self-service scanner. It is an overhead digital scanner with the option of a cradle (for books) or flat surface (for documents). Scans may either be saved to a USB drive or e-mailed directly from the scanner. Emailing works only with a limited number of small files, so researchers should bring their own USB drive. The reading room supervisor will be happy to show you how to use the scanner.

Scanning Requests

Staffing and funding restraints allow the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) to offer only limited scanning services for persons who cannot visit our reading room. We typically make high quality scans (300-600ppi, JPG or TIFF files) and can either burn them to a CD or email them to you. Our fee structure is: 

• $1.00 per scan for the first 1-5 scans
• $5.00 per scan for the next 6-10 scans
• $10.00 per scan for the next 11-20 scans
• $15.00 per scan for the next 21-25 scans

This sliding scale is cumulative - for example, 12 scans would cost:  

• $1.00 each for scans 1-5:  =  5.00
• $5.00 each for scans 6-10:  =  25.00
• $10.00 each for scans 11 and 12: =  20.00
• TOTAL cost:                           $ 50.00

Time and staffing limitations require us to cap all scan orders at 25 scans maximum; scanning orders are filled only as time and resources permit. Additional charges may apply if the item requested is oversized or otherwise difficult to reproduce.

Please note:

• Receipt of scans does not convey permission to publish. Direct publication requests in writing to the Head of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC).Publication fees may apply. Please provide LaRC with two courtesy copies of any publications or products resulting from the use of our holdings.
• Receipt of scans does not convey copyright. It is the researcher's responsibility to ensure compliance with all relevant copyright laws.
  

Microfilm

If you believe you might need an entire collection reproduced for your research, or if you would like a copy of an entire collection to place in your library, please talk with us about the possibility of microfilming the collection for you. Please be aware that original microfilming can be performed only on long continuous runs of documents. That can make microfilming relatively expensive and time-consuming; microfilm orders commonly take two or three months or more.