The rare books, manuscripts, and college records in Special Collections are acquired and preserved in order to support research in all areas of the Williams curriculum, and document the college’s history. You do not need to be affiliated with Williams in order to use our collections. We encourage you to contact us in advance of your visit so that we may place material on hold for you. Some material is stored at our Library Shelving Facility, requiring 48 hours advance notice to consult.
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Most Special Collections materials are available for research, with exceptions for restricted College Records, for example:
- Board of Trustee records (restricted for 50 years from date of creation)
- Presidential papers and records (restricted for 50 years from date of creation)
- Office of Human Resources records (restricted for 30 years from date of earlier of employee retirement, death or departure)
- Office of Human Resources Presidents records (restricted for 150 years after death)
- Student records (permanently restricted in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Contact the Office of the Registrar for more information.)
Individual offices and departments, donors, or creators of records occasionally impose additional restrictions as needed. Restricted records are available for review by authorized staff from the office of origin, or by individuals designated in a deed of gift. You may contact us to request access to restricted records. We will consider your request in consultation with appropriate College officers. Subpoenas or other legal processes involving access to restricted records will be referred to College Counsel.
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Reproduction requests are considered on a case by case basis depending on the condition and size of the material, and the quantity of images requested. Some items may be too fragile or too large to be scanned or photographed. Reproductions are provided for private study, scholarship, or research. Providing reproductions does not imply permission to publish or otherwise use material in excess of "fair use."
Reproduction rates and formats
Williams students, staff, faculty and alumni Other researchers Self-service pdf or jpg scans in our reading room Free of charge, subject to limitations Free of charge, subject to limitations Color pdf or jpg from overhead scanner Free of charge, subject to limitations First 50 images free, otherwise$1 per scanned image High resolution jpg or tiff from camera Free of charge, subject to limitations $20 per image capture Audiovisual files Free of charge, subject to limitations $40 and up, depending on format Typical turnaround time for reproduction requests is three weeks. All payments must be in USD (United States Dollar). For long-distance requests, only checks are accepted and they must be payable to Williams College and drawn on a US bank. We do not accept credit cards. Images will be delivered upon receipt of payment.
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Special Collections materials do not circulate, nor are they lent on interlibrary loan. The Library can, however, provide images from some of its holdings, depending on the magnitude of the request and the condition and dimensions of each item. Interlibrary loan requests should be made through the Williams Libraries.
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A Bookeye scanner is available for self-service in the Weber Special Collections reading room. We also allow you to use personal cameras and scanners to create images of material, subject to the following conditions:
- All requests must be approved by staff on a case-by-case basis
- Only digital cameras, tablet cameras, cell phones, or flatbed scanners may be used
- Unless permitted by staff, you may not stand on chairs or rearrange furniture to get a better image, and must remain facing forward. Please confer with staff regarding the use of tripods, flash, or special lighting. Audible features on cameras must be turned off. Staff will designate work locations for using cameras or scanners.
- All materials must be handled carefully. Staff are available to assist you. Bound volumes must be supported in a book cradle, or as otherwise directed by staff; pressure must not be applied to bindings. Unbound material must be kept in order. Mylar must not be removed without permission from staff. You may be required to use a streamer/transparency to indicate origin of the material.
- It is your responsibility to keep complete and accurate citations (complete location information or accession/call number) for all items photographed or scanned
- No pictures may be taken of other researchers, staff, or visitors without their express permission
- Staff reserve the right to deny requests or to revoke photographic/scanning privileges
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Williams Special Collections welcomes you to use materials in the public domain and to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law.
Public Domain: You do not need to obtain permission to use or publish materials in the public domain. (Cornell University publishes a chart that may help you to identify what is and is not in the public domain in the United States.)
Fair Use: The United States copyright law contains an exception for fair use of copyrighted materials, which includes the use of protected materials for certain purposes of teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. For guidelines on the fair use exception, please refer to the Website of the United States Copyright Office.
You are solely responsible for determining whether your use is fair and for responding to any claims that may arise from your use.
If you wish to use copyrighted materials for commercial or any purpose other than fair use, you must request and receive prior written permission from the copyright holder. Williams College does not assume responsibility for infringement of copyright. Williams College holds the copyright to College Records and a limited number of manuscript collections. You may contact us to request permission to publish material to which Williams owns copyright.
Manuscripts and archival records may contain personal or confidential information that is protected under federal or state regulations governing personal privacy and/or publicity rights. These rights are distinct from copyright and you may need to secure, for example, the consent of a person who appears in a photograph in order to comply with state privacy and publicity laws. You are solely responsible for addressing issues of privacy and publicity rights relating to use of the materials.
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For any use of the materials, we request that you cite Williams Special Collections as the source of the original material with the credit line below that corresponds to the appropriate collection:
- Williams College Archives
- Chapin Library, Williams College