Materials that have been accessioned but not yet fully arranged and described may be used by the Archives staff to answer inquiries and by the originating department. Others will not have access, but may apply for access to the Archives.
In addition, there will be restrictions on some materials based upon the originating department’s wishes, or the Archives’ discretion. Such restrictions shall be recorded in the accession record.
Donors of personal papers may also request restrictions and, if accepted by the College, such restrictions shall be recorded in both the accession record and deed of gift. If at all possible, the Archives will use a rolling date system so that materials will become available after a certain number of years.
The Archives may need to limit access to original materials due to their condition or fragility. Such restrictions will be clearly described for each group of records and noted in the appropriate collection description.
Rules for the handling of archival materials shall be provided to all in-person researchers. In-person researchers must contact the Archives in advance of a visit. The Library staff will provide access to unrestricted collections to an external researcher after that individual has read and signed a permission-to-use form, and has been interviewed. Requests for photocopies or other reproductions will require completion of a separate request form. The Archives will maintain a file of both types of request forms alphabetically by year.
Staff members will retrieve archival materials and supervise their use. Any copying will be done by the Library staff. External researchers must apply for permission to publish. They shall observe conventions of credit in acknowledgments and footnotes.