What are the rules for the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Research Room at the National Archives at College Park?
36 C.F.R. § 1254.88
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) We provide use of NARA viewing and listening equipment in the research room on a first-come-first-served basis. When others are waiting to use the equipment, we may impose a 3-hour limit on your use.
(b) You may use the NARA-furnished recorder or your personal recording device and media to make a copy of unrestricted archival materials in the research room.
(c) We provide you with a copy of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Research Room rules and a warning notice on potential copyright claims in unrestricted titles. You are responsible for obtaining any needed permission or release from a copyright owner for other than personal use of the copy.
(d) The research room attendant may inspect and tag your personal recording equipment before admitting you into the unrestricted viewing and copying area in the research room. You must place all equipment and accessory devices on the carts we provide, except that you may place a tripod holding a video camera on the floor in front of a film-viewing station. We are not responsible for damage to or loss of personal equipment and accessories.
(e) You must remain in the research room at your audio or film viewing station at all times while your personal equipment is in use. You must remove your personal equipment from the research room when you leave the room for the day. We cannot be responsible for any damage to or loss of your equipment.
(f) We are not responsible for assisting with “hook-up” to NARA viewing equipment, for providing compatibility between the personal recording equipment and NARA viewing equipment, or for the quality of the copies you make. We provide you information on the types of NARA equipment that we have in the research room and on the cables necessary for hook-up to our viewing equipment.
(g) When you bring audio or video recording tapes or cassettes into the unrestricted area of the research room, the research room attendant marks the recording media “NARA-approved personal property” for identification purposes. We inspect this media before you leave the research room and when you leave the research complex at the National Archives at College Park.
(h) You may reserve a NARA-furnished video copying station and 120-minute blank video cassette, for a fee, on a first-come-first-served basis for 90 minutes. If no one else is waiting to use the station, you may reserve an additional 90 minutes. You may not connect personal recording devices to NARA equipment at the video copying station. You may use only NARA-provided tapes at the video copying station. Fees for use of the station and blank cassette are specified in § 1258.12 of this chapter.
(i) You may not take any personal recording device or media in the restricted viewing area in the research room.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026