Reproductions and Digitisation Services
Our reproductions and digitisation services provide digital copies of books, journals, manuscripts, and other archival materials, helping to preserve them and making them easy to access for research, study, publication, and personal use. As the handling and preservation needs vary between modern and special collections, the process and pricing differ for each.
Modern Collections
Our modern collections include books and materials on the open shelves from floors 4 to 7, and our stack material in the closed store. Most items in this collection are still under copyright, but you can request one journal article, one chapter or up to 5% of a book. Our reproductions service can also be used to request University of London Examination Papers.
Scanned items from our modern collections | £7.85 (price per item excluding VAT) |
University of London Examination Papers | £2.00 (price per subject, per year excluding VAT) |
Library members are entitled to free scanned items from our stack material through our document supply service. Open shelf items and scans for non-members are provided at cost.
If you would like to order a digital reproduction from our collections, please complete our reproductions and digitisation services form. To find items, use the Senate House Library catalogue.
We aim to complete orders from our modern collections within 48 hours.
Special Collections and Archives
The digitisation studio uses high specification digital SLR cameras, flatbed archive scanners, and high-quality book scanners to produce colour-profiled and quality-assured high-resolution digital images.
Studio staff can take orders to digitise materials from our Special Collections, rare books, and multimedia archives, with the support of the Library's Conservators.
We understand that every requirement is different, so we can work with you to deliver a service that fits your specific needs.
The digitisation service is priced depending on the number of items and the number of images requested. Unless specifically requested, we supply images at 300ppi. We can supply images in JPEG, TIFF or PDF format.
We may be able to offer reduced prices for larger requests. Please send your enquiry with the order form below.
For each item* | £15.00 (price excluding VAT) |
For each page of the item | £1.00 (price excluding VAT) |
*For periodicals, one item is counted as the issues within a year’s quarter or by issues, whichever is smaller.
If you would like to order a digital reproduction from our collections, please complete our reproductions and digitisation services form. To find items, use the Senate House Library catalogue.
We aim to complete orders under 500 images within four weeks of payment receipt. The timeline may be extended for especially fragile material.
For a no obligation quote for a reproduction or a License to publish an image provided by Senate House Library, please complete the reproductions and digitisation services form.
Please note that we may publish items digitised through this service in our online library.
Copyright and Licenses
- If an item is in copyright, reproductions are supplied only for non-commercial research or private study.
- If you are planning to publish research including a copyrighted item from our collection, you must have the permission of the copyright owner or a valid copyright License before a reproduction is provided.
- The University of London holds copyright to some items in its collection. If copyright is held by the University of London, you can apply for a copyright License through the reproductions and digitisation services form.
- If the item is not in copyright, you do not need to apply for a License. Please credit ‘Senate House Library’ and include the catalogue link where appropriate.
- Responsibility for clearing copyrights for publication lies with the customer. Neither Senate House Library nor the Digitisation Service team take responsibility for this.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the digitisation and reproductions services we provide, please email senatehouselibrary@london.ac.uk.