Library and Learning Technology’s Digitization Center

The LLT Digitization Center supports the production and delivery of a large array of online digital collections that reflect Egypt and Middle East history and culture, support the curriculum, faculty and student research output, a record of the University, and provide access to those materials which are considered to be rare or unique.

The digitization staff has expertise in digitizing various media, including books, manuscripts, photographs, artwork, maps, posters, slides, and audiovisual resources. The center works with the collection's curators to apply standardized metadata that ensures high visibility in search engines and scholarly indexes. The center adds digitized and born-digital collections to AUC Digital Library's online presence. The center conducts digital preservation, digital curation, digital data, and digital planning activities.

For users working with special collections or archival materials at the Rare Books and Special Collections Library (RBSCL):

A Reprographic Services Request Form must be submitted by the user and approved by library staff, according to the LLT Policy on Copyright Compliance (no more than one chapter or ten percent of a book may be copied per day). Please note that there is no self-service photocopy or scan. Taking pictures with cell phones is not allowed.

Library staff may refuse to grant permission for photocopying, scanning, or photography due to an item's age, fragility, size, or other aspects of its condition, including possible damage from light or handling. Books from locked, rare books storage areas are generally not allowed to be photocopied but, in some cases, may be photographed or scanned.

Besides paper photocopies, digitized items can be provided in various formats, file types, and image resolutions, and on various delivery media (flash drive, DVD, cloud storage account), according to the user’s needs. Contact the LLT Digitization Center or subject specialists for options.

Photocopy requests are normally completed and ready on the same day, depending on the nature of the request. Digital scanning and photography requests are normally completed and ready in two to five business days, although some formats can be produced in a shorter period of time. For inquiries, write to the LLT Digitization Center at [email protected].

For the services price list, click here.

In some cases, the use of personal cameras, mobile phone cameras, or personal scanners may be permitted at the discretion of library staff. Refer to the research services desk staff or the subject specialist you are working with about this. The use of flash photography is not permitted, and users should provide the library with a file of the digital images they produce. There may be a charge for making digital images with your personal equipment.

Users wishing to bring a major camera or recording equipment into the RBSCL must receive prior permission from AUC’s Office of Marketing Communications and Public Affairs.

In the case of publishing, broadcasting, or quoting from Rare Books and Special Collections Library Materials, the permission to publish request form must be filled and signed by the user for legal approval from the LLT. Charges fees may apply.