I’ll be making a visit to the Library of Congress sometime in the next month. I visit the Library of Congress a few times each year to scan things which basically can’t be found elsewhere. If there’s anything in particular you want from the Library of Congress next time I go, let me know here. I’d strongly prefer that you’ve tried other resources first, and checked that what you want is in the Library of Congress catalog (or likely so; sometimes you can’t tell).
Also, if there’s anything who is going to make a visit to the British Library or any major library in Russia (e.g., the Russian State Library, the National Library of Russia, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, any major academic library), let me know if you’d be willing to take some scan requests.
I went to the Library of Congress today. It’s highly likely I’ll go again next summer, so you can still let me know if there’s anything you want scanned.
you agree to only use the copy for non-commercial purposes;
you will not distribute the copy;
if there’s no other good way to obtain the book (e.g., if you can buy the book or get it via interlibrary loan, go do that), or the book is in the public domain;
there’s not a particular section you are interested in (if there is, let me know);
the book is not too long.
With the above caveats, this should be at worst fair use, but I am an engineer, not a lawyer. (I am, however, finishing up a class on US intellectual property law, which clarified much of my understanding of the law in this regard.)
I’ll limit myself to 2 requests for entire books (first come, first served), as the scanner they have is not ideal for scanning entire books. They have a good overhead scanner, but it’s somewhat slow.
It’s a Mexican book that used to be available in libraries here in Colombia around 6 years ago. Today it’s nowhere to be found, and all my known pirated sources for books in Spanish lack it. It’s not available for Kindle, and the LoC happens to have it.
However, I just checked in Amazon that the printed version has 401 pages, which makes me feel embarrassed to ask for such a cumbersome favor. Upon further search, I discovered one public library in my city that has it available for loan. I’ll do that.
To be honest, I’d be okay with scanning 401 pages if I could get something out of it. I mentioned here that I wish there was a website where you could get credits for the number of pages you scan and then use these credits to pay others (perhaps with a rating system for getting the correct item, speed, quality of scan, etc.). Might not be that hard to set up, actually, but I don’t have the time to do it.
You’re probably aware, but for those who aren’t, WorldCat is a good way to see which libraries near you have which books. Unfortunately, participation of libraries outside of the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia seems to be incomplete, but at least some Colombian libraries participate. Another problem is that not all of the holdings of some particular libraries seem to be in WorldCat. The Library of Congress in particular seems to have problems with this for some more obscure items. I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the Library of Congress’ catalog separately.
I’ll be making a visit to the Library of Congress sometime in the next month. I visit the Library of Congress a few times each year to scan things which basically can’t be found elsewhere. If there’s anything in particular you want from the Library of Congress next time I go, let me know here. I’d strongly prefer that you’ve tried other resources first, and checked that what you want is in the Library of Congress catalog (or likely so; sometimes you can’t tell).
I might also visit the NIST library and National Agricultural Library.
Also, if there’s anything who is going to make a visit to the British Library or any major library in Russia (e.g., the Russian State Library, the National Library of Russia, Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, any major academic library), let me know if you’d be willing to take some scan requests.
I went to the Library of Congress today. It’s highly likely I’ll go again next summer, so you can still let me know if there’s anything you want scanned.
Does your offer include entire books?
Yes, with some caveats:
you agree to only use the copy for non-commercial purposes;
you will not distribute the copy;
if there’s no other good way to obtain the book (e.g., if you can buy the book or get it via interlibrary loan, go do that), or the book is in the public domain;
there’s not a particular section you are interested in (if there is, let me know);
the book is not too long.
With the above caveats, this should be at worst fair use, but I am an engineer, not a lawyer. (I am, however, finishing up a class on US intellectual property law, which clarified much of my understanding of the law in this regard.)
I’ll limit myself to 2 requests for entire books (first come, first served), as the scanner they have is not ideal for scanning entire books. They have a good overhead scanner, but it’s somewhat slow.
It’s a Mexican book that used to be available in libraries here in Colombia around 6 years ago. Today it’s nowhere to be found, and all my known pirated sources for books in Spanish lack it. It’s not available for Kindle, and the LoC happens to have it.
However, I just checked in Amazon that the printed version has 401 pages, which makes me feel embarrassed to ask for such a cumbersome favor. Upon further search, I discovered one public library in my city that has it available for loan. I’ll do that.
To be honest, I’d be okay with scanning 401 pages if I could get something out of it. I mentioned here that I wish there was a website where you could get credits for the number of pages you scan and then use these credits to pay others (perhaps with a rating system for getting the correct item, speed, quality of scan, etc.). Might not be that hard to set up, actually, but I don’t have the time to do it.
You’re probably aware, but for those who aren’t, WorldCat is a good way to see which libraries near you have which books. Unfortunately, participation of libraries outside of the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia seems to be incomplete, but at least some Colombian libraries participate. Another problem is that not all of the holdings of some particular libraries seem to be in WorldCat. The Library of Congress in particular seems to have problems with this for some more obscure items. I’ve gotten into the habit of checking the Library of Congress’ catalog separately.