ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Joint Statement on Access to Original Research Materials

Foreword

The ACRL Board of Directors will consider the following statement at the ALA Dallas Conference in June. Comments on the statement should be sent to Wesley C. Williams, Curator, Special Collections, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106.

The statement was developed jointly by the Committee on Manuscripts Collections of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and by the Committee on Reference and Access Policies of the Society of American Archivists. It supersedes and replaces the 1976 ACRL “Statement on Access to Original Research Materials in Libraries, Archives, and Manuscript Repositories” (College & Research Libraries News, November 1976, p.272-73) as well as the 1974 “Standards for Access to Research Materials in Archival and Manuscript Repositories” (The American Archivist, January 1974, p. 153-54).

American Library Association— Society’ of American Archivists Joint Statement on Access to Original Research Materials in Libraries, Archives, and Mam script Repositories

1. It is the responsibility of a library, archives, or manuscript repository to make available original research materials in its possession on equal terms of access. Since the accessibility of material depends on knowing of its existence, it is the responsibility of a repository to inform researchers of the collections and archival groups in its custody. This may be accomplished through a card catalog, inventories and other internal finding aids, published guides, or reports to the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, where appropriate, and the freely offered assistance of staff members, who, however, should not be expected to engage in extended research.

2. To protect and insure the continued accessibility of the material in its custody, the repository may impose several conditions which it should publish or otherwise make known to users.

a. The repository may limit the use of fragile or unusually valuable materials, so long as suitable reproductions are made available for the use of all researchers.

b. All materials must be used in accordance with the rules of and under the supervision of the repository. Each repository should publish and furnish to potential researchers its rules governing access and use. Such rules must be equally applied and enforced.

c. The repository may refuse access to unprocessed materials, so long as such refusal is applied to all researchers.

d. Normally, a repository will not send research materials for use outside its building or jurisdiction. Under special circumstances a collection or a portion of it may be loaned or placed on deposit with another institution.

e. The repository may refuse access to an individual researcher who has demonstrated such carelessness or deliberate destructiveness as to endanger the safety of the material.

f. As a protection to its holdings, a repository may reasonably require acceptable identification of persons wishing to use its materials, as well as a signature indicating they have read a statement defining the policies and regulations of the repository.

3. Each repository should publish or otherwise make available to researchers a suggested form of citation crediting the repository and identifying items within its holdings for later reference. Citations to copies of materials in other repositories should include the location of the originals, if known.

4. Whenever possible a repository should inform a researcher about known copyrighted material, the owner or owners of the copyrights, and the researcher s obligations with regard to such material.

5. A repository should not deny access to materials to any person or persons, nor grant privileged or exclusive use of materials to any person or persons, nor conceal the existence of any body of material from any researcher, unless required to do so by law, donor, or purchase stipulations.

6. A repository should, whenever possible, inform a researcher of parallel research by other individuals using the same materials. With the written acquiescence of those other individuals, a repository may supply their names upon request.

7. Repositories are committed to preserving manuscript and archival materials and to making them available for research as soon as possible. At the same time, it is recognized that every repository has certain obligations to guard against unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and to protect confidentiality in its holdings in accordance with law and that every private donor has the right to impose reasonable restrictions upon his or her papers to protect privacy or confidentiality for a reasonable period of time.

a. It is the responsibility of the repository to inform researchers of the restrictions which apply to individual collections or archival groups.

b. The repository should discourage donors from imposing unreasonable restrictions and should encourage a specific time limitation on such restrictions as are imposed.

c. The repository should periodically reevaluate restricted material and work toward the removal of restrictions when they are no longer required.

8. A repository should not charge fees for making available the materials in its holdings. However, reasonable fees may be charged for the copying of material or for the provision of special services or facilities not provided to all researchers. ■■

WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE DIRECTOR NAMED

The National Commission on Library and Information Science (NCLIS) has announced the appointment of Marilyn Killebrew Gell as director of the White House Conference on Library and Information Service and Jerry Manolatos as deputy director of the conference.

At an executive session in Washington, D.C., on January 6, NCLIS voted unanimously to seek a full-time White House Conference director to assume responsibility for conference planning efforts. NCLIS Executive Director Alphonse F. Trezza had been serving as conference director since the summer of 1977.

Gell and Manolatos, who were selected by a unanimous NCLIS vote, assumed their new positions in February. The White House Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., October 28 to November 1, 1979. ■■

COSTS OF BOOKS AND PERIODICALS SOAR

The cost of a market basket of U.S. hardcover books purchased by colleges and universities rose by 81 percent between 1971 and 1978. The cost of U.S. periodicals increased by 122 percent during the same period, and the price of foreign monographs went up 91 percent. The average annual increase was 11.6 percent for books, 17.5 percent for periodicals, and 13 percent for foreign monographs.

These figures are based on data presented in the Higher Education Price Index compiled by D. Kent Halstead of the National Institute of Education.

The index shows that if a college library expended 55 percent of its budget on books, 30 percent on monographs, and 15 percent on foreign monographs, it would have had to pay 98 percent more in 1978 than in 1971 to purchase the same market basket of library materials.

According to the Higher Education Price Index, employee fringe benefits compensation was the only item in college and university budgets that rose faster in cost than books and periodicals between 1971 and 1978.

The higher education price index data for fiscal years 1971 through 1978 may be found in D. Kent Halstead, Higher Education Prices and Price Indexes, 1978 Supplement, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1978. ■■

ACRL SECTIONS

Community and Junior College Section

“Who are we?” “Whom do we represent?” These are questions that members of the Community and Junior College Section of ACRL have been asking about their section during the past year.

The Executive Committee of the section has endorsed a Membership Committee proposal that the name of the section be changed to Two-Year College Section. The reasoning behind the proposal is that the new name would better reflect the real diversity of the section s constituency and would replace a rather cumbersome and sometimes inaccurate title. The issue of the name change will be brought up at the annual meeting of the section in Dallas.

Members are invited to comment on the proposed name, suggest alternative names, and offer suggestions for a suitable logo. Contact Margaret Charters, Chair, Membership Committee, Clock- amas Community College, 19600 S. Molalla Ave., Oregon City, OR 97045.

Science and Technology Section

At the Midwinter Meeting, the ACRL Board accepted the recommendation of David Oyler, chair of the Agriculture and Biological Sciences Section, that the name of the section be changed to Science and Technology Section.

The section itself had approved the change at its annual meeting in June 1978 after more than a year of internal study. Section members had concluded that broadening the mandate of the section would encourage participation by ACRL members currently lacking access to a subject session. ■■