POLICY AND PROCEDURE SUMMARY

THE EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE ARCHIVES MISSION STATEMENT


The Archives will solicit and collect those materials that document the innovative and alternative nature expressed by the "Evergreen" community both in its pedagogical and social aspects. It will obtain and make available for research those materials that tend to illustrate or describe the nature and activities of the students, faculty, staff, Patrons and supporters of The Evergreen State College.
Definition of Terms:


POLICY STATEMENTS

ACQUISITIONS POLICY


The Evergreen State College Archives will acquire only those materials outlined in this policy. Exceptions may be approved by the Archivist.

ACCESSION POLICY

TESC Archives logs in new acquisitions using a register system within the Archivist's Toolkit software. Registration will be performed by the Archivist or a designated staff member upon the material's arrival and acceptance into the repository.

ARRANGEMENT POLICY

All accessionable materials will be arranged by accession number (indicating date and sequence of the accession's entry) followed by the use of the Records Hierarchy (Record group, subgroup, series, file, and item levels) which maintains the provenance information and the documented filing relationships within the accession imposed by their units of origin (Respect des Fondes). In cases of individual images and small accessions, or in cases where accessions are previously arranged by topic, a subject classification may be used. The purpose of arrangement is to provide easy access to materials while maintaining the character of the accession. Arrangement is supplemented and complemented by description to enable specific materials to be located within the Archives's collection.

Definitions:

Accession: Related materials acquired from a single source and logged into the Archives's collection as a unit.

Records Group: Records or collections of materials derived from a single corporate body or individual. The "Records Group" can sometimes be equated to the generic concept of "book" and usually represents all accessions received from a given source.

Subgroup: Records or collections of materials produced or accumulated by a corporate division or an individual's separate activities.

Series: Set of documents or other materials maintained in a specified file order. NOTE: The series level pertains to the method or manner used to file materials not to the provenance (historical "ownership/authorship") represented by the Record Group and Subgroup levels of the records hierarchy.

File folder: Set of materials related by topic, chronology, or other category and kept within a single folder.

Item: Individual document, photograph, or other materials.

DESCRIPTION POLICY

The TESC Archives will maintain finding aids for each accession acquired. The finding aids will conform to currently in use standard formats accepted by the archival profession, including Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) and "Encoded Archival Description" (EAD) specifically as promulgated in the Best Practices document of Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA). Basic finding aids (the Accession Record) for any accession will be completed at the time the materials are accessioned, prior to placement in their permanent storage location. Upon completion of the standard finding aid and submission to NWDA, the finding aid will be entered into the Library Catalog for inclusion in the Orbis-Cascade union catalog and OCLC's database.

DACS provides authority for the use of other standards based on material type and format. See the DACS manual appendices for a non-inclusive list.

CONSERVATION POLICY

TESC Archives will provide care and protection for its collections based upon sound materials conservation theory and practice as outlined in this policy. The Archives staff will provide appropriate storage materials and environment to the extent that funding allows; use exhibit techniques approved by the general museum community that conform to strict conservation procedures; develop appropriate security rules and regulations to protect against theft and vandalism; create and keep current an emergency/disaster plan for prevention of and recovery from natural or man made catastrophic events. The Dean of the Library will appoint an individual responsible for maintaining all aspects of the conservation policy. If a professional level staff is not employed, the Library should request a review of the Archives' conservation needs from the State Archives or other organization with recognized preservation/conservation credentials on a biennial basis.

Definitions:

Preservation: The control of factors that influence the degradation of heritage materials, i.e., environment, vermin, acid formation, oxidation of images, etc.
Conservation: Actions that result in retardation of vectors (acid formation with paper, etc.) that cause degradation of cultural materials.
Qualified Professional: Archivist, librarian, or conservator trained in the theory and practice of heritage materials conservation and preservation.

DE-ACCESSION POLICY

The Archives staff will conform to the Acquisitions policy. Materials previously accessioned or received with an acquisition that are not within the Acquisition Policy parameters will be de-accessioned by staff responsible for the collections before placement of the accession in it's final storage location. The staff will attempt to return de-accessioned materials to their donor or to other institutions before resorting to ultimate disposal. This policy will not apply to the short term storage of cultural items for which agreements with individuals or organizations have been reached, nor for temporary borrowings for the purpose of display or exhibit.

Definitions:

De-accession: The act of separating and discarding unwanted material from an accession. Separation: The act of removing items, folders, or series from an accession when they are not integral to the accession or are unrelated to the purpose for which the accession was acquired.

REFERENCE POLICY

Availability to materials held by the TESC Archives will be open to all legitimate enquiries from the public. Normal access will be during work hours (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.) Monday through Friday when staff is available. Reference service will be provided by Archives staff members. Staff will treat all patrons equally and with courtesy. Staff will offer help with use of finding aids and materials location but not research help unless the patron is willing to recompense the Archives for staff time.

Definitions:

Legitimate enquiries: Include research questions in history, genealogy, sociology, and other areas of academic study; requests for personal curiosity; use of photographic materials in exhibits, etc. Enquiries not honored will include: requests for staff to do research (see above for exception), requests from children under 16 unaccompanied by an adult, and frivolous requests without a reasonable intent to do research. There are basically three kinds of requests:
  1. Media materials may only be copied through arrangements made by Archives staff.
  2. Patrons must pay the cost for blank media (for A-V materials).
  3. If requesting photographic images, the Archives staff will provide a digital image in a format specified in the request. If no format is identified, the image will be provided in jpeg format.
  4. Delivery of Media materials duplicated by Archives staff may be chosen from the following means:
    1. Pickup at the Archives.
    2. Digital transmission via email or file sharing.

BORROWING MATERIALS

Only in extremely rare cases will the Archives lend materials from the collection. So that the materials are preserved for future use we require the following from our borrowers:

  1. Materials must be returned by the date specified by the Archives staff.
  2. Original photographs will not be lent, copies only will be provided for exhibition.
  3. Do not write on any materials. Use care in handling materials: do not put fingerprints on the surface, do not bend or fold.
  4. In all cases publication or display of our materials must carry the credit line: "from the collections of The Evergreen State College Archives and Special Collections ".

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modified 10-15-2012