Research at the Stark Center

Usage Policies

All items must remain in the Reading Room.
Patrons are restricted to five (5) items at a given time.
Patrons are responsible for safeguarding the condition of the material used. All materials must be returned to the reference desk before leaving. Materials may not be transferred to another patron.
Records and materials must stay flat on the table at all times. Ask for assistance if it is necessary to remove any item from its protective housing.
Use pencil only. No marks are to be added to or erased from collection material, including the folders in which items are housed. Never write on paper with collection material underneath, as it may leave an impression and damage the material.
All records/documents/files must be kept in the same order in which they are given to you. If folders in a box or pages in a folder appear to be out of order, do not rearrange the records yourself. Alert the staff immediately.
All materials must be returned before leaving the Reading Room.

Read our complete policy concerning the use and reproduction of the Center's resources.

Duplication Fees

Black and white copies: $0.25 per page

Black and white scans: $0.50 per page

Scans can be either emailed to you directly or put on a USB flash drive.

Contacting The Stark Center

Please write, telephone or email the Stark Center staff before you visit. The reading room of The Stark Center is open to the public. However, we encourage researchers to contact us. This will allow staff to check University and Stark Center schedules for any potential conflict. It will also allow time to determine availability of resources.

To assist staff with the identification of relevant resources, please include the following in your letter or email to us:

a description of your research project, including names of primary individuals, time periods of interest, any other information that will narrow the search;
other primary and secondary sources have you already checked;
what record formats you are seeking (textual, photographs, electronic, etc.);
what you hope to find in our materials, the goal of your visit.

Arriving at The Stark Center

All visitors of The Stark Center must check-in at the reception desk. To protect The Stark Center materials, all bags, briefcases, coats, hats, and purses must be checked in with a staff member before materials may be used.

Notepaper and pencils will be provided. Pre-written notes must be on loose paper and must be stamped by The Stark Center staff before you enter the Reading Room.

Personal electronic devices such as cell phones or i-pods may not be used in the reading room. Up to five (5) books may be brought in but must be indicated with a Stark Center identification strip. All personal items are subject to search by a reading room attendant.

Laptop computers removed from their cases are permitted.

Reference Services

The Stark Center staff encourages students, researchers and the public to contact us with any relevant questions. However, due to staffing constraints, staff can answer only the simplest of reference questions via correspondence (mail, telephone, or email). You may be invited to the The Stark Center to research on your own or you may hire a proxy researcher.

Proxy Researchers

The Stark Center staff recognizes that it may be necessary for researchers to hire or appoint a proxy researcher to work with Stark Center materials on their behalf. The Stark Center staff will accommodate such requests subject to the following:

Proxy researchers will read and follow all policies and procedures regarding use of The Stark Center materials
Financial arrangements are negotiated directly between the proxy researcher and the patron. The Stark Center staff will not participate in those negotiations nor will the staff recommend any rates of hire
Patrons must communicate their research needs to the proxy researcher. The Stark Center staff will provide routine assistance.
The Stark Center staff have compiled a list of graduate students and other individuals who are interested in being proxy researchers. Inclusion on this list does not stand as an endorsement by The Stark Center of the individual’s abilities.

Locating Materials

The Stark Center collection is composed of books, manuscript collections, scrapbooks, ephemera, photographs and other miscellany. As we begin to thoroughly process this material, we will catalog all books into the UT Libraries Catalog. Searches may be limited to The Stark Center’s materials by using the “Collections” pulldown menu available on most search screens. Non-book material will be accessible through a variety of collection-specific finding aids, all of which will be posted to our web site upon completion.

However, because at this time much of the collection is still unprocessed, researchers should contact The Stark Center staff for advice. Please review the Reference Services section below.

The Stark Center provides two computers in the Reading Room. Use of these computers is restricted to research related to The Stark Center materials and holdings. General internet searching or e-mail is not allowed.

Once useful materials have been identified, request slips must be completed for each item or group of items. Patrons must provide valid photo identification, to be held by staff as security while collection material is being used. Patrons will be allowed only five items for use at a one time. All items must be returned before other items are pulled.

Usage Policies and Regulations

Usage Policies

All items must remain in the Reading Room.
Patrons are restricted to five (5) items at a given time.
Patrons are responsible for safeguarding the condition of the material used. All materials must be returned to the reference desk before leaving. Materials may not be transferred to another patron.
Records and materials must stay flat on the table at all times. Ask for assistance if it is necessary to remove any item from its protective housing.
Use pencil only. No marks are to be added to or erased from collection material, including the folders in which items are housed. Never write on paper with collection material underneath, as it may leave an impression and damage the material.
All records/documents/files must be kept in the same order in which they are given to you. If folders in a box or pages in a folder appear to be out of order, do not rearrange the records yourself. Alert the staff immediately.
All materials must be returned before leaving the Reading Room.

Reading Room

All materials of The Stark Center are non-circulating. With the exception of a few reference and general-use items, the materials of The Stark Center are housed in closed stacks. Once useful materials have been identified, request slips must be completed for each item or group of items. Patrons must provide valid photo identification, to be held by staff as security while collection material is being used. All items must be returned before other items are pulled.

Duplicating Materials

The use of personal scanners or cameras is not permitted without permission from a Stark Center staff member. Requests for use of such devices are considered on a case-by-case basis.

The Stark Center staff will consider requests for duplication of material on a case-by-case basis. With few exceptions (for approved digital cameras), all duplication of materials will be performed by our staff. Duplication fees are assessed. Duplicated materials will be mailed, unless staff time permits otherwise and other arrangements are made. The staff reserves the right to limit the size of duplication orders.

Access to The Stark Center collections is subject to any restrictions placed on materials by donors or depositors or staff for preservation, processing, or other essential purposes. We will not duplicate any materials that may be damaged by the duplication process, nor will we duplicate an entire collection. Generally, we will provide research copies within the guidelines of the Fair Use (and other) provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Copies in any format may not be further reproduced, sold, shared, or given to another person, company, or institution for any purpose without the permission of The Stark Center.

Copies provided by the The Stark Center staff may not be deposited in other archives, libraries, or other institutions without written consent. If photocopies are authorized for deposit into other archives, libraries, or institutions, requests for further duplication of those documents must be directed to The Stark Center. The Stark Center reserves the right to request the return of photocopies.

Permission and Copyright

The Stark Center supports research and education by acquiring, preserving, and providing access to rare and unique research materials in a closed stack, non-circulating environment. We offer photographic reproductions of research materials to researchers in the Reading Room, as well as researchers who cannot visit in-person, as long as:

These reproductions do not violate Title 17 of the U.S. copyright law that governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted materials.
Donor agreements do not restrict photographic reproduction.
These reproductions can be produced without damage or risk of damage to the original materials.

Clearance of copyright is always the responsibility of the person wishing to publish or display material.
Publication of any material from The Stark Center requires written permission from the copyright holder and a completed Application for Permission to Publish form submitted to us. The researcher may request that the requirement of written permission from the copyright holder be waived if the copyright holder or his/her heirs cannot be found after a proven good faith effort to locate them. Permission to publish is for one-time use only – subsequent uses require additional written permission.

Reproduction of images from the photography and film collections is possible under certain conditions. For instance, in the past several years, images from the Todd-McLean Collection have appeared in: Iron Man, Flex, Mucle Mag International, Planet Muscle, the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, Muscle & Fitness, Stern [Germany], NBC's 20/20 and in the PBS documentaries—“Professional Wrestling: Theater of War,” “The Quest for Health,” and “The Quest for Muscle.” Images from the Collection were also used in a museum exhibition entitled “Picturing the Modern Amazon” at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. To discuss the possibility of using images from the Stark Center, contact the Directors at 512-471-4890 or by email at j.todd@mail.utexas.edu, or Cindy Slater at cslater@mail.utexas.edu.

Research at the Stark Center

Usage Policies

Duplication Fees

Usage Policies and Regulations

Usage Policies

Reading Room

Duplicating Materials

Permission and Copyright

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