Am I permitted to take photographs of material in the Reading Room?

Yes, you are allowed to use your tablet or mobile phone to photograph some of our materials. Please ask an admin if you need any guidance.

Not all materials in our Reading Room are available to photograph and preservation restrictions still apply.

Photographs taken are still subject to copyright, privacy and data protection legislation. The photographs must only be used for personal reference purposes, not for commercial purposes.

General guidelines

You can use a tablet or camera phone but no tripods or additional camera lenses and no handheld scanners are permitted.

Please turn off your camera flash and any audible sound or alerts.

To minimise disruption to others, try sitting down when you use or photograph the material. If you have to stand, you may be directed to a designated area within the Reading Room.

Some categories of material may only be photographed at designated desks within the Reading Rooms. Admin will advise if this is the case.

There are some items you cannot photograph

Some material is excluded from self-service photography. This includes:

• items that have not yet been assessed as appropriate for photography
• restricted or special access material
• items where their format, size or condition means they are at risk of damage
• items that are clearly marked ‘no copying’
• items where there may be data protection, privacy or third party rights issues.

Photography of people or materials other people are using is not permitted. We also don’t allow any audio or video recording.

Because of licence restrictions that apply to some of our electronic resources, photography of computer screens is not allowed.

Copyright and Privacy Legislation

Please adhere to copyright, data protection and privacy laws.

If an item is still in copyright you can only copy a certain amount. We therefore recommend that you only copy a book chapter, an article, or no more than 5% of an incopyright work for your own private study or non-commercial research purposes.

If you have the written permission or a licence from the person or company that controls the copyright, you may copy more. You will need to present proof of this.

You may also copy more than 5% if copyright has expired, and where the condition of the item allows.

The Data Protection Act 2011 Trinidad and Tobago, as well as other privacy laws may apply to the use of any information obtained from our collections.

If you wish to publish copies made, you are advised to contact the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Intellectual Property Office, for information or advice.

You are responsible for any copies made which infringe copyright, data protection, privacy, or other laws.