Copy Requests

Copyright

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or other reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Articles for Kansas City Public Library Customers

• The library will copy articles from the Kansas City Public Library Collection or try and obtain the article from another library through interlibrary loan.
• The library needs specific information including the volumes and year of the publication and the author and title of the article.
• If we don't own the material you will need a valid Kansas City Public Library card and we can then request them through interlibrary loan. This process generally takes about a week. We try to obtain the article at no cost but if we can't you will be responsible for any charges the lending library charges us. Please indicate, on the request form, what you are willing to pay.
• Due to copyright restrictions the library cannot make multiple photocopies of an item, nor can it photocopy more than one article from a specific periodical issue.
• If we own the material there is a fee for the service. The fee is needed before the material is delivered unless you are picking the material up at one of the Kansas City Public Library locations. We will notify you of the charges by phone or email. Please wait to pay until you hear from us regarding your charges. We accept checks, Mastercard, VISA, Discover and American Express.
• We can email, mail or fax your material to you or you can pick it up at one of the Kansas City Public Library branches.

Copies for non-Kansas City Public Library Customers

• Staff will copy articles, pages of books, etc. from the Kansas City Public Library collection and either email, mail or fax them to you.
• The library needs specific information including the volumes and year of the publication and the author and title of the article.
• You do not need a library card for this service.
• Payment is required before copies will be mailed. Please wait for staff to contact you before paying.
• While staff will make every effort to fulfill your request, we do not guarantee any delivery time.

Obituaries

• Staff will copy obituaries that appear in the Kansas City Star newspaper if you know the date of death. We will check the paper from the date of death through five days later.
• Please consult our fees section above for pricing. Please do not pay until you hear from staff regarding your charges.
• You do not need a library card for this service.
• Delivery options are the same as above.
• While staff will make every effort to fulfill your request, we do not guarantee any delivery time.

Fee Table

Requests can be emailed, mailed, faxed, or picked up at any Library location. Additional $5 fee for mailed or faxed requests outside of the United States. Fee applies to each article requested.