However, the Section's staff can carry out limited and specific searches in the records on behalf of the public. A number of form letters are in use to facilitate the answering of enquiries. Copies of records held by the Section may be made for members of the public for use in private research subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act presently in force and on payment of the current charges. However, photocopies will not be made of records where there is a risk of damaging them. Members of the public may instead photograph records themselves using their own cameras or may employ a professional photographer.
Special conditions apply if copies of records are required for publication.
The Manuscripts Section aims to make its holdings more widely available, as well as more accessible and comprehensible, through publishing leaflets , handlists and guides. The handlists and guides may be purchased through Guildhall Library Bookshop . The Section's work and holdings are also made more widely known through the mounting of exhibitions both within the Library and elsewhere, and through the giving of talks and tours. Provide catalogues of the records held by the Section. Make the records available without charge for public study, and provide advice about and information from the Section's holdings in response to personal, written and telephone enquiries.