Notes on the Newberry Library, Chicago by Ron Dillon Wed Dec 12 1990 ------------------------------- I spend about two days a month at the Newberry Library and could probably spend six months, 24 hours a day. The library has rules regarding the copying of materials and will not honor a mail request. It's a private library supported by donations from a who's who of the Chicago area. The library does offer an associate membership for a $50.00 donation a year. Any genealogical researcher ('for personal use', although I don't know of anyone who has been refused access) can register and be issued a card which is good for one year and is renewable. It is a non-circulating library. After entering, you're assigned a seat location. When you request books, they are delivered to your seat. You can request copies of pages which 'would not violate copyrights of the material'. Generally, if you request more than 5 or 6 consecutive pages, they will hesitantly honor it. I have seen a request for 10 pages denied. They are more willing to copy a couple consecutive pages from a book that is not available anywhere else than pages from something like a Lodge's Peerage. They charge an initial setup charge and then a per page charge. If the request is for pages from different chapters or sections, there is an additional setup charge. Personally, I avoid some of those by reading sections into a small tape recorder. It takes at least a day to become familiar (at least somewhat) with what is available. There is a family history card catalog with published and non-published family histories, local histories, and other genealogical materials. They have a very large open stack section with almost any kind of history book you can imagine. If you are doing foreign research, it helps to be able to read in that language. There are a lot of non-translated books. (The card catalog is written in the language of the book, so it's obvious which ones are not in English.) ------------------------------- Date: Thu Dec 13 1990 14:01:15 From: James Johnson To: Vicki Titus Subj: Newberry Library ------------------------------- I called the Newberry Library this morning. They will answer letters, and they will be glad to make copies for you. A possible difficulty for you is that "The Library does not reproduce copyrighted material beyond recognized 'fair use'...." The Newberry will copy a maximum of "25 openings" (normally, one opening equals one page) per volume. This copy policy also exists if you visit the Newberry in person, since the Newberry does not allow individuals to photocopy material themselves. Send them as much information as possible concerning what you want copied (ie: title, author, page numbers, Newberry Call Number, etc.), and they will send you a cost estimate for it (about 20 cents per page). It would be nice to also send them an SASE with your request. The Newberry will also consider preparing a microfilm copy of a volume in its collection for you. If they do so, it would cost 20 cents per microfilm frame, with a $10.00 minimum charge. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � This file appears on The Source of Magic BBS, Ridgefield CT � � 203-431-4687, specializing in genealogy, radio, and writing. � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸