Procedures

Readers should register as a Library user. Material from Archives and Manuscripts must be consulted in the Rare Materials Reading Room. Readers wishing to use this material are strongly advised to contact Archives and Manuscripts in advance of their first visit. To do this, email archs+mss@wellcome.ac.uk or phone 020 7611 8899.

Please note: only pre-ordered archives may be consulted during evening and Saturday morning opening.

• Access
• Ordering
• Using materials
• Copying

Access

• The Library’s Access to Archives Policy (PDF 278KB) outlines the steps taken by the Library to balance the access needs of researchers with its duty of care to individuals mentioned in its archive collections
• Readers are required to sign an undertaking outlining their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Copyright Acts.
• Uncatalogued material is not normally made available.
• Materials being prepared for, or currently undergoing, digitisation as part of the Modern Genetics and its Foundations Project will be unavailable. Readers are advised to consult the schedule for how this will affect specific collections.
• There are restrictions on access to certain collections/files. Please contact the archivists in advance if you wish to consult such material. In certain cases it may be necessary to obtain permission from the donor/depositor.
• In the case of certain items, microfilm or other surrogate copies are normally produced for conservation reasons.
• Readers are subject to Library conditions of use and the additional rules applying to the Rare Materials Room.

Ordering

• Most material from Archives and Manuscripts can be ordered via the online catalogue. In some cases online ordering has not yet been enabled and orders should be made on green manual requisition slips and handed in well in advance of need at the Rare Materials Room Desk.
• Where material is not yet described in the online catalogue it should be ordered using the hardcopy handlists available in the Rare Materials Room on green manual requisition slips, and orders should be handed in well in advance of need at the Rare Materials Room desk.
• Requested materials will generally be ready for collection within two hours but can occasionally take up to four hours. You can keep track of your requested items though My library account.
• Please note that orders for Archive and Manuscript collections must be placed by 3pm for delivery the same day (by 4pm on Thursday). Archive and Manuscript orders for delivery on Saturday must be placed by 4pm the day before.

Using materials

• Readers should ensure that all items are handed with care. Handling instructions are provided on all desks in the RMR.
• Do not remove or rearrange any loose papers within files or volumes.
• When you have finished with the box, please return it to the desk and inform the supervisor.
• If not finished with, material will normally be held on reserve for 10 working days from the date of its production. You may extend the hold via My library account. Please make a note of the date of the extension on the slip with the box. For materials ordered on green slips, white reserve cards are available at the RMR supervision desk.

Copying

• A self-service scanner is available in the Rare Materials Room. Readers intending to make copies should provide themselves with a memory stick (obtainable from the ground floor bookshop) and load value into their Library card using the value-loader adjacent to the second floor self-service copying area.
• Readers may also use their own digital cameras to copy materials.
• In both instances, readers must first ascertain from the RMR supervisor whether the material may be copied.
• Serviced scanning may be ordered using the order forms available from the supervisor's desk. Material must not be removed from the files, but flagged in place using the coloured markers available at the supervisor's desk. Files should be left in their box and the whole box returned with the order form. The copying order should only be placed when the whole box is no longer required.
• Orders for high-resolution images and digital copying of entire files or volumes should be made on a separate Wellcome Images form available from the supervisor's desk.
• Scanning ordered remotely will be subject to a minimum charge of £6.00 for up to 10 exposures plus a handling charge of £5.00. Further information on pricing is available here.