Skip to main content
HOURS TODAY

Loading Main Library hours...

Loading Mudd Library hours...

Deering Library: Closed
Hours

Reproductions and Scans

The Libraries offer a variety of reproduction services that include scans of items in our general collection, scans from other libraries’ collections and reproductions of special collections.

Digital Collections

To browse materials that have already been digitized, see Digital Collections

Cost: Free

Eligible patrons: Northwestern faculty, students and staff with a valid NetID

Limits:

  • Requests may be limited to 10 per week based on capacity at the busiest times of year
  • Applicable copyright and fair use guidelines will be followed; requests must be for educational non-commercial purposes
  • Generally, we will scan one chapter or 10% of a single book for an individual patron with a 50 page maximum

Turnaround time:

Standard turnaround time is 1-4 days. If we have difficulty fulfilling a request, we will email you.


To Request

  1. Log in to your Interlibrary Loan account
  2. Under Place a Request, choose article or book chapter
  3. Fill out as much citation information as possible; more information can speed along fulfillment

Non-circulating materials from the following collections can be reproduced on request

  • Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives
  • Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies
  • Music Collection
  • Transportation Library

Cost: Free up to 50 pages or 30 minutes of staff time

Eligible patrons: Any

Limits:

  • Requests over 50 pages will be assessed on a case-by-case basis
  • May be limited by physical condition of materials
  • Contact staff for audio-visual or born-digital materials at specialcollections@northwestern.edu 

Turnaround time: Varies


 You must first create an account with the Special Collections and Archives request system to request a reproduction of rare materials. 

  • Students, faculty and staff will create a login using their NetID
  • Patrons without a NetID may use a valid email to create a login

Create an account to request rare materials

Once you have created an account

  1. Locate the item you would like to have reproduced in the catalog or in the Archival and Manuscript Collections portal
  2. Click "Request" on the record for the item (under Get It in the catalog; upper right corner for the Archival and Manuscripts Collections portal)
  3. Choose "photoduplication" as Request Type in the request form

Search the catalog Search Archival and Manuscript Collections

Credit Line

Cite the appropriate individual library as follows:

"Courtesy Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University Libraries"

"Courtesy Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives, Northwestern University Libraries"

"Courtesy Northwestern University Transportation Library"

Personal Photography or Digitization Equipment

Collection curators must approve requests from researchers who wish to bring digital cameras or other photographic equipment to reproduce rare materials in-person. Researchers performing their own digitization will be required to sign a Researchers Copyright Agreement form.

 

Copyright Statement

Users of materials held by the Northwestern University Libraries are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and payment of such additional fees as the owners may require if the Libraries do not hold copyright or if the material is not in the public domain. Users assume all responsibility for questions of copyright or other rights that may arise in copying and in the use made of the copy.

The user assumes all responsibility for infringement of copyright or other rights and agrees that Northwestern University Libraries are free from liability for any infringement of use by the requester. Northwestern University Libraries reserve the right to refuse permission and reproductions to anyone who does not agree to these conditions.

U.S. copyright law (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

LEARN ABOUT RIGHTS, PERMISSIONS AND REPRODUCTIONS POLICIES