Researcher's Guide to Special Collections and University Archives: Visiting

All researchers are welcome to order photocopies or scans. You are also welcome to take photos with a digital camera or phone (no flash photography please) of most unrestricted materials. 

We require all patrons who wish to take pictures to fill out a fair use notice. In some cases, we do not permit patrons to take photographs.

If you are affiliated with UIC, you should be able to connect to "UIC-WiFi" using your netid and password. If you are not affiliated with UIC, there are 2 ways you can use wifi:

• Eduroam: If your home institution is a eduroam member you can use your credentials for our eduroam wifi. For more information on this see the Academic Computing and Communications Center's eduroam page.
• Guest Wireless: Anyone can create up to 5 guest wireless accounts per semester. Accounts expire 48 hours after they are created. See more information on setting up guest wireless passwords.

If you plan to use our microfilm software or find that you need to download a journal article from one of our Visiting Researcher  computers (second floor of the main library), please bring a flash drive.

• https://uic.libwizard.com/f/SCUAregistration
• Call us at (312) 996.2742 for Special Collections and University Archives at Daley library, or (312) 996.8977 for Special Collections at Library of Health Sciences

• You will fill out the Researcher Registration form on your first visit. Photo ID required.
• Ask at the front desk for a locker key to place your belongings such as coats and book bags. Only bring in material you need to complete your research. Laptops, notebooks, and digital cameras are permitted. Please use only pencil when taking notes (the Reading Room staff can provide pencils)
• Food or drink is not permitted in the reading room
• Please keep your cell phone on vibrate or silent. If you receive a call, please take the call outside of the reading room
• Please use only one box at a time. Please take only one folder out of a box at a time. This will ensure that all folders are returned to the correct box in the correct order
• Ask for white cotton gloves if you will be handling photographs.
• Please handle all materials delicately.
• Photocopies are available for .25 cents per page, or scans for .50 cents per page. Library staff will do all photocopying for you. Due to staffing levels it might be 2-3 days before we can complete your order. Please ask the Reading Room Staff about the procedure to request photocopies.
• Researchers may bring their own digital camera in order to take pictures of materials subject to compliance with our posted procedures. This can be done in lieu of ordering photocopies. There is no charge, we just ask that you fill out the Digital Camera Usage form agreeing to fair use copyright.
• Remember the Reading Room Staff is always available for questions and will be glad to assist you!

Unable to visit us in Chicago? We will do our best to accommodate your research needs. If it's something small, we can have the materials paged, and make photocopies or scans (please see this page for our fees for this service). We can also accommodate larger requests, but this has a longer turnaround time. Please contact us for further information.

You are also welcome to hire a local researcher. Contact the Graduate Student Coordinator for the History Department here at University of Illinois, Chicago (Linda Van Puyenbroeck, lindavp@uic.edu) and inquire about graduate students who may be available to hire. Tell the coordinator about your research question, expected amount of research, how much you are willing to pay, etc, and they can send out a call for researchers to the History Dept. students.

There are also some lists of Chicago area researchers for-hire online: 

http://chicagohistory.org/documents/research/resources/CHM-FreelanceResearchers.pdf

http://www.newberry.org/sites/default/files/textpage-attachments/researchers.pdf