Please note this service will be discontinued from 20th December, 2024.

Current staff and students of the university can request a scan of a single chapter or article for personal study, under copyright fair dealing. 

Scans will be made of print material available on the shelf at Colchester only, from the Student, Main, Store or Special Collections, where it is not already available as part of our digital collections. 
We are unable to scan plays or music, or material located at Loughton or Southend. Scans from Special Collections may be unavailable if particularly delicate or fragile or due to volume of material, and some may be redacted due to confidentiality and copyright.

Any requests are for personal study/research purposes and non commercial use. We are unable to supply scans for reading lists or sharing in class.

You can place a scan request from the library search. When you have found the item you require, click on the title and then click on Scan & Deliver under 'Get it'. You will need to sign in before you will see this option

If you require a scan in an alternative format for accessibility reasons, please use our ‘Request Accessible Copy Form’. You need to be registered with the Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service to use this service.

Scans will be subject to fair dealing copyright:

One chapter of a book 

One article in a single journal issue

or 5% , whichever is greater

Scan requests will be checked by library staff (Monday - Friday) for availability and copyright limits. Requests may be rejected if it is already available in our online collection, is over the limit of copyright or if the book is unavailable for scanning.
We aim to send accepted scans within 5 working days of the request being received. 

We will email you when the scan is ready to view - these will be in PDF format and you will be sent a link to the scan to download.

If you want to track the progress of your request, you can contact us by emailing libline@essex.ac.uk