St. Olaf College Archives Acquisition Policy
Effective Date: 08-01-2019
Issuing Authority: Chief Information Officer, Libraries and IT
Program Coordinator: Lead Archivist
Last Updated: 08-01-2019
Purpose of Policy
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for the acquisition of archival materials.
Policy
The St. Olaf College Archives Collects:
- Official records of the college including materials from past presidents, deans, faculty, administrative
bodies, and governing boards - Legal or constituting documents (e.g., charters, constitutions, by-laws), vital records or security
copies produced by any campus vital records program, policy statements, and reports (along
with their supporting documents), minutes, substantive memoranda, correspondence, and
subject files of the college’s:- governing board
- chief executive, academic, legal, financial, student affairs, and administrative officers
- major academic and administrative committees
- faculty meetings
- Reports from:
- self-studies and accreditation visits
- annual reports, budgets, and audits
- offices of admissions, institutional research, college relations—public relations both on- and off-campus—and development
- research projects, including grant records
- Records of:
- departments, e.g., minutes, reports, syllabi, faculty vitae, and sample test questions
- retired, resigned, terminated, or deceased personnel the school employed
- the registrar, e.g., calendars and class schedules, noncurrent student transcripts, enrollment records, graduation rosters, and other reports issued on a regular basis
- academic, honorary, service, and social organizations of students, faculty, administrators, and staff on campus
- All publications, newsletters, posters, or booklets about or distributed in the name of the college or one of its sub-units, e.g., books, posters, magazines, catalogs, special bulletins, yearbooks, student newspapers, student handbooks, college directories and faculty/staff rosters, alumni magazines, and ephemeral materials
- Special format materials documenting the operation and development of the college, such as:
- audio, audiovisual and multi-media productions—still photographs, slides, and negatives, motion picture films, audio and audiovisual cassettes
- oral history interviews with their transcriptions
- maps, blueprints, and plot plans of the campus and its buildings
- scrapbooks created by the college, faculty, staff, students and alumni
- Digital and other electronic records or lists of where such items are maintained
- Artifacts (objects and textiles) related to the college when space permits
- Records and papers produced by school-related organizations, groups, and individuals while actively connected with the school, such as private papers of faculty members produced while working with or for the school and manuscript collections related to the school
The Archives will not acquire, except in unusual circumstances:
- Triplicate publications (we will strive to keep at least two copies when available but no more)
- Publications better suited for the general library collection or special collections
- Clothing
- Artwork better suited to museum display
- Moldy or damaged items
- Material unrelated to St. Olaf College