Policies

Collection Use

Special Collections reproduces material upon request to the extent that physical condition and rights permit.  The department does not retain intellectual rights or copyright to a majority of its collections.  It is the sole responsibility of the user to investigate the rights status of any given work and to seek and obtain permissions.

• All on-site visits and reproduction requests require completion of a registration form.
• No more than 10% of a collection will be reproduced. For large collections, a maximum of 300 copies will be reproduced.
• Further dissemination of works including but not limited to the transfer of reproductions to another library or repository is prohibited.
• Where Stony Brook University does not hold copyright interests, permission to publish must be obtained from the holder of the copyright interests.
• Stony Brook University Libraries adhere to the Copyright Law of the United States and reserve the right to refuse or accept a copying or scanning request.
• A photocopy or digital image may not be further reproduced. Supplying a copy or digital image is not an authorization to publish.
• The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or reproductions of copyrighted materials.
• 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 a copying order, if in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve  violation of copyright law.
• In granting permission to publish materials, the University does not surrender its own right thereafter to publish any of the materials from its collections, nor does it grant permission for more than one-time use.
• Requests for duplication may be denied because of the fragility of the material, potential damage to the item, restrictions imposed by the donor, or other factors.
• The department is not able to fulfill reproduction requests for sound recordings, videos, and microforms. These materials, with advance notice, can be consulted on-site for research purposes.

Additional Sources

• Copyright and Unpublished Material from the Society of American Archivists
• United States Copyright Office
• WATCH: Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders by the Harry Ransom Center and the University of Reading Library
• Public Domain Information Project (music and lyrics)