Conditions Governing Access - smith-special-collections/sc-documentation GitHub Wiki

All resource records must have a Conditions Governing Access note at the collection level. In addition, restricted material should have Conditions Governing Access notes and machine-actionable restrictions (restriction end dates or Local Access Restriction Types) at the most appropriate level of description (the highest level of description where the restriction is applicable to ALL material below).

See also DACS 4.1

Example 1: A collection is entirely restricted

• Collection Level: Conditions Governing Access note (including machine-actionable restrictions)
• Parent archival object level (series, etc.): No note
• Child archival object level (file, etc.): No note

Example 2: All of the children of a parent archival object are restricted

• Collection Level: Conditions Governing Access note that includes a general statement of all the restrictions in the collection
• Parent archival object level (series, etc.): Conditions Governing Access note (including machine-actionable restrictions)
• Child archival object level (file, etc.): No note

Example 3: Some child archival objects are restricted

• Collection Level: Conditions Governing Access note that includes a general statement of all the restrictions in the collection
• Parent archival object level (series, etc.): No note
• Child archival object level (file, etc.): Conditions Governing Access note (including machine-actionable restrictions)

We should always include and be transparent about

• the cause of a restriction (e.g. donor agreement, FERPA, fragility, presence of PII)
• when a restriction will or did end (if known)
• how to contact special collections if the lifting of a restriction is something we can control, such as a need for screening or stabilization

Restrictions on material due to technical requirements (playback equipment, etc.) should be documented in the Physical characteristics and technical requirements note.

Copyright and other reproduction restrictions should be documented in the Conditions Governing Use note.

This collection is open for research.

Be clear about when those restrictions ended

This collection is open for research. The diaries were formerly closed at the direction of the donor until 2019.

These diaries were formerly closed at the direction of the donor until 2019.

This collection is open for research with the following restrictions on access: [list the restrictions, see below for examples]. These restrictions are noted at lower levels of description where appropriate.

For the collection level note, add one or more of the following possible restrictions, each as a new paragraph, as applicable:

At the direction of the donor, researchers must sign an access agreement form agreeing to not identify any living persons without their permission prior to accessing material in Series II. Programs. Please consult with special collections staff at <extref href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</extref> to begin this process.

At the direction of the donor, this material is available for research use with the condition that researchers must sign an access agreement prior to use. Please consult with special collections staff at <extref href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</extref> to begin this process.

The following are the general restrictions for the College Archives (details here). Include one or more of these bullet points as applicable to a particular collection:

• "Office Files," files of records created for the use of the administrative unit that created them, are closed to research for a period of 10 years following their creation.
• Faculty tenure and promotion files, as well as inactive faculty files are closed permanently.
• Board of Trustees' records are closed permanently.
• Minutes of faculty meetings and of the Faculty Council are closed to all except current Smith College Faculty for a period of 75 years following their creation.
• Academic department meeting minutes are closed for a period of 25 years following their creation.
• Student academic records, student disciplinary records, and all records containing FERPA-covered student information are closed during the lifetime of the student. All student records created prior to 1938 or about the Class of 1941 or earlier are open.
• Personnel records are closed permanently.
• Records of individual financial donations to Smith College are closed permanently if made anonymously. Otherwise closed for 75 years.

These academic department meeting minutes are closed for a period of 25 years following their creation.

These student records are closed during the lifetime of the student. All student records created prior to 1938 or about the Class of 1941 or earlier are open.

Boxes 5-6 contain moldy materials. These boxes are closed to research until the materials can be cleaned or digitized.

Due to mold, this material is closed to research until digitized or cleaned.

If some oral histories are closed:

Some of the oral histories in this collection have restrictions on access. Please see the notes attached to an individual interview for information about restrictions that apply to it.

see Interview Level Oral History Access and Use Notes

If it is not feasible to identify what portion of a particular group of materials (collection, series, box, etc.), make the note for the appropriate level of description specify that the material is “screen on demand.”

This box must be screened by an archivist for student records before being used by researchers. Please contact special collections staff at <extref href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</extref> a minimum of two weeks in advance of your visit for access.

These restrictions allow staff to more easily see when containers are restricted, and allow for those restrictions to lift automatically when a date expires without intervention from a human.

All restricted material should have a machine-actionable restriction at the highest level of description applicable to ALL material below. If a series of diaries in a collection is closed until a specific date, the machine-actionable restriction should be at the series level only. This will mark all containers within that series as “restricted”. If only a few diaries are restricted, the machine-actionable restriction should be on the restricted diaries only, NOT at the broader series level.

• If the restriction has a known end date, put that date in the Restriction End field
  • A note about dates: If a restriction is something like "10 years from the date of creation" and you do not know the exact date of creation, the end date is December 31 of that year plus 10. Thus something created in 2015 would have a restriction end date of 2025-12-31.
• If the restriction does not have a known end date, select the appropriate Local Access Restriction Type
  • 1 for restrictions that come from the donor, college policy, or due to FERPA
  • 2 for restrictions that come from SCSC, such as a need to screen contents before use or moldy material that must be treated
  • 3 for fragile material that needs stabilization before use
• If/when restricted material without a known end date is opened, this restriction should be removed.