Order Information
The Macaulay Library is a major international supplier of animal sound and video recordings. No project is too large or too small for us to handle!
We have provided recordings for biological research by graduate students and other scientists, field guides and related productions, reference collections for conservation, education, and wildlife management, backgrounds for museum, aquarium, and zoo exhibits, species exemplars for public and commercial media, sounds for toys, smartphone apps, and audible book products, enrichment of online websites, tools for teachers and more.
The Macaulay Library is your source for nature audio and video clips to compliment any project. Our goal is to make the sounds and footage in the archive readily accessible for a wide variety of users. Many of our sounds are also available on productions, some of which can be purchased on CD or downloaded instantly from our website.
The first step in obtaining media from us is to find what you are looking for.
- Enter the common or scientific name in the search bar at the top of the page or use the advanced search.
- Listen or view material and note the catalog number of the selections you wish to obtain.
- If you can’t find or are not sure what you’re looking for, we can help.
Have an idea, but don’t know where to start? Our experienced and helpful team is available to be your creative collaborator and to assist you through our vast archive of assets.
Email us at macaulaylibrary@cornell.edu
Place your media request via our order form. You will be asked to supply us with your contact information, details of your project and the following additional information:
- Catalog number and/or species
- Description of recording
- Required format
- Delivery details
We will respond to your order within a few days with an estimate of the studio time and the licensing fee, if applicable. You will not be charged until you approve the estimate and the order is complete. Many simple orders can be prepared quickly, but please plan for at least two weeks to process an order. If you need your order filled in less than two weeks, an expedited processing fee may apply.
As part of the mission of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, we are dedicated to providing recordings and services at reasonable rates for each user. Clips can be licensed at reasonable rates for commercial uses – the license fee depends on the term, territory, and usage requested. We can also engineer and edit clips as needed. Studio fees for engineering vary depending on how complicated the order is, whether the materials already exist in a digital format, and the extent to which they need to be edited. Typically, the fee is $75 per hour to prepare recordings for commercial uses, $50 per hour for institutions, and $25 per hour for individuals. There is no studio fee for student and research use. Discounts and bulk rates are also available.
Everyone who receives audio or video recordings from the Macaulay Library must complete either a commercial or a non-commercial use agreement (see samples).