Services & Support

Document Delivery

Document Delivery: Accessing Print Materials Electronically

At Decker Library, we understand that sometimes you need access to our print materials in a digital format. That's why we offer Document Delivery, a service that allows you to request scans of anything in our collection, delivered right to your inbox.

How Does Document Delivery Work?

  • Print Materials: We'll scan the requested print materials and send them to you as PDF files.
  • Special Collections Items: Items such as artists' books are typically scanned or photographed and sent as image files.

Requesting Scans from the Collection (DocDel):

Whether you need a chapter from a book or an image from our Special Collections, our Document Delivery service is here to help. Simply click the link below to request your scans:

Request Scans from the Collection (DocDel)

Special Collections Items:

Before requesting scans from Special Collections, please check to see if we already have images available on the MICA Digital Library.  

Get Started Today:

Explore our collection and take advantage of this convenient service to access the materials you need, right from the comfort of your home or studio.

Depending on availability, scanning may take up to two weeks, and possibly longer for Special Collections items. 

Decker Library's DocDel service is available to all current MICA staff, faculty, and students. This service is not available to alumni or community members. 

If a request is made for an item that is unavailable, the request will be forwarded to our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department. The ILL coordinator will follow up with the requestor once the items are located. ILL items cannot be placed on course reserve. 

For course reserve materials: If an item is unavailable, it will be recalled and the file made available once the item has been returned. 

To make a DocDel request, please follow these steps: 

Check to see if the Library already owns the item by checking the Library Catalog. Fill out the form for DocDel requests.

To request items not yet owned by Decker Library, we suggest using our Interlibrary Loan service. 

All DocDel files will be formatted as PDFs.  All DocDel files will have descriptive titles of either the title of the article or the title of the print material (i.e. a scanned chapter of Red Riding Hood would be titled red riding hood.pdf).  All DocDel requests will be scanned with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to ensure they are compatible with most screen readers.  All DocDel items will have a cover page with full copyright information. 

DocDel Copyright Policy

The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted materials. Libraries and archives are authorized to provide a photocopy of materials under conditions specified by law. To abide by Copyright Law, 50 pages, or 10% of a work, whichever is less, may be copied and obtained through Document Delivery.

The Library reserves the right to decline requests based on the interpretation of Copyright Law.

Instructors are responsible for copyright compliance.

More about copyright statuses

Materials in the public domain can be scanned and used for eReserves without copyright restrictions. In general, government publications and materials published in the United States before 1924 are in the public domain. More information about the public domain can be found on Stanford University Libraries' Copyright & Fair Use website

Fair Use: Materials that comply with Fair Use can be scanned and uploaded in accordance with Copyright Law. More information about Fair Use can be found on Stanford University Libraries' Copyright & Fair Use website

Copyright: If faculty need more than 10% of the work and the material is not licensed by the Library, usage does not comply with Fair Use, or the material is not in the public domain, instructors should get permission and pay fees (if applicable) to the copyright holder.