NLM Reading Room Overnight Photocopy Service
The National Library of Medicine’s Overnight Photocopy Service (OPS) is for researchers who need a high volume of materials from NLM's General Collection. Onsite researchers will be able to request photocopy service for journal articles or specific pages from items such as monographs, symposia, and government documents.
In providing this service, the goals of the National Library of Medicine are to increase the longevity of the General Collection, to improve onsite document delivery to the majority of researchers using the NLM Reading Room, and to provide a method for high volume requesters in the NLM Reading Room to obtain the documents they need from the Library's closed stacks.
Requests
- Submit each request separately via the Library’s online catalog, LocatorPlus, on the workstations in the Main Reading Room. See Instructions
- Only one journal article, one chapter, or section of a book is allowed per request.
- Requests for journal articles from 1871 to the present will be accepted
- Requests for parts of books from 1914 to the present will be accepted
- Requests for photocopy service may be entered into NLM LocatorPlus at any time the Library is open to the public, but to be processed overnight they must be entered prior to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
- Requests must comply with copyright guidelines
- Incomplete requests (e.g., missing page, volume, article title or article author) will not be processed
- Requests for items shelved in the main Reading Room will not be processed.
- Requests for electronic journals will be filled only if the call number is NLM Reading Room/General Collection access.
Charges
- There will be a $5.00 charge upon delivery for each filled request.
- Researchers can pay by check or money order, made payable to "The National Technical Information Service" or "NTIS". Cash and credit cards are not accepted.
- New requests will not be accepted unless all completed requests for a researcher have been paid in full.
- Deposit accounts are available: Application form (MS Word document)
- Researchers who make frequent use of overnight photocopy service can establish deposit accounts.
- Researchers who wish to retrieve their documents electronically must apply for a deposit account.
Instructions for Submission, Viewing, and Printing of Requests
- After you have identified an item in LocatorPlus that you would like to request, click on the Request icon at the top of the screen.
- At the OPAC Patron Login screen, enter your Patron ID number and your last name and click OK.
- At the "Available Patron Requests" screen, click on the down arrow to get the drop-down menu for OPS.
- Select either "OPS Copyright Payment-CCC" or "OPS Fair Use" and click OK.
- At the next screen, follow the instructions in the "Instructions:" box and click on the "Submit Request" button at the bottom of the screen when you are ready to submit your request.
- To print or view your OPS requests, please wait 5-10 minutes from the time you submitted your requests. Then click on the "OPS Request Information" button, enter your Patron ID number, and you are ready to print or view your requests.
Pick-Up of Completed Requests
- Patrons may retrieve requested documents in person in the NLM Reading Room -or- electronically.
- To retrieve documents electronically, patrons must establish a deposit account and choose one of two retrieval methods: e-mail attachment or web download. All documents delivered electronically will be in PDF format.
- Regardless of delivery method, all requests will be available after 3:00 p.m. on the work day following the day of the submission, except on Saturday.
- NLM will notify researchers by 1:00 p.m. the day following submission whenever requests will not be ready for the 3:00 p.m. pick-up time. Except in unusual circumstances (e.g., a very large number of requests), requests will be processed by 3:00 p.m. the next working day.
- Patrons who have questions should contact NLM at 1-888-FIND-NLM (1-888-346-3656) or send email to: custserv@nlm.nih.gov.