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Cameras in the Rare Book Reading Room

Photographing Text Collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis

  • An appointment is preferred to facilitate photography, and these times will concur with the posted hours of the Reading Room.
  • All rules outlined in the “St. Louis Mercantile Library Rare Book & Manuscript Reading Room Rules” shall be followed; this agreement is a supplement to that form.
  • A camera may not be used in the Rare Book Reading Room until this agreement and the “St. Louis Mercantile Library Rare Book & Manuscript Reading Room Rules” are signed and completed.
  • A digital camera shall be used; this is the only camera allowed for use in the reading room.
  • Prohibited – Scanners; cell phones; flash photography; standing on chairs, tables, or any other object in the Reading Room; photographs of the Reading Room or patrons.
  • No photograph may be taken of any material not listed on agreement form.
  • Only materials in the Saint Louis Mercantile Library collections shall be photographed.  No material from other libraries may be photographed.
  • Proper acknowledgement of the material used and the St. Louis Mercantile Library should be given.
  • Making copies may be subject to copyright law. See signage posted in the Rare Book Reading Room.
  • All images made in the reading room must be of 300 DPI or greater quality (or equivalent) and be made available to the Saint Louis Mercantile Library’s digital collection in JPEG, TIFF, or RAW format.
  • All photographs captured in the Reading Room will be made available for use by the St. Louis Mercantile Library before the photographer leaves the Reading Room.
  • The curator(s) reserve the right to deny permission to photograph any material in the Saint Louis Mercantile Library Collection.
  • The curators will determine the best way to lay material on the tables for optimal preservation of material. Any bound material should be placed by the curator(s) on the provided foam pads. Photographs are to be taken facing the curator(s).
  • A tripod may be used if it does not require the original image to be removed from the table.
  • All audible features on the camera must be muted.
  • The materials photographed shall not be transferred to any other institution and are for personal use only. Images used for other purposes may be subject to additional charges. See our MercSource Price List (2 Pages, 52, PDF).

Cost is $.35 per image and any material deemed by the curator(s) to need special care may be charged the regular fee for digitization, if digitization is deemed necessary. This includes text images only. For other images please refer to the MercSource Price List (2 Pages, 52, PDF).

A PDF of the policy is available
Camera Policy (2 Pages, 139 KB, PDF)