The University Archives are located at 951 Morgantown Road, first floor. Contact Sharon Neal, Library Director, at 610.586.1465 or sharon.neal@alvernia.edu to schedule an appointment.
Materials housed in the Archives are rare, sometimes unique records and require special care. Researchers must handle material carefully in accordance with the following guidelines:
It is the responsibility of a repository to make available original research materials in its possession on equal terms of access.
Access to all research materials in the Alvernia University Archives (the Archives), irrespective of format, will be provided in accordance with this access policy, the “Code of Ethics for Archivists,” and the “ACRL Code of Ethics for Special Collections Librarians.” The Archives will not deny any researcher access to materials, nor grant privileged or exclusive use of materials to any researcher, unless required to do so by law, institutional access policy, or donor or purchase stipulation.
INTELLECTUAL ACCESSIBILITY. The Archives will inform researchers in a timely manner of the collections in its custody in accordance with institutional access policy and current professional practice. This may be accomplished through the assistance of staff members; entries in local, regional, or national catalogs; inventories, and other documents describing a repository’s holdings and created using nationally recognized standards; published guides; repository websites; and other means, including announcements in appropriate print, electronic, and other media. The existence of original research materials should be reported, even if they are not fully accessible because they are not processed or because of restrictions.
RESTRICTIONS. The Archives is committed to preserving research materials and to making them available for research as quickly as practicable following their acquisition. Nevertheless, the Archives will fulfill legal and institutional obligations to protect confidentiality and physical security of its collections. Moreover, donors may wish to impose reasonable restrictions upon their papers for a defined period of time to protect privacy or confidentiality.
POLICIES. To protect and insure the continued accessibility of its holdings, the Archives will require all patrons to use all research materials in accordance with published institutional policies. The Archives will publish or otherwise make known to potential researchers its policies governing access and use. Such policies will be applied and enforced equally, and may include provisions such as:
FEES AND SERVICES. The Archives will strive to provide access to its holdings at no direct cost to the researcher. In situations where this is not possible, reasons for charging fees will be made publicly available. The Archives will facilitate access to collections by providing reasonably priced reproduction services that are administered consistently in accordance with legal authority, including copyright law, institutional access policy, and repository regulations. These services may include electronic, paper, or photographic copies; microfilm; or other means of reproduction and should be clearly stated in a publicly accessible written policy. The Archives is not obligated to provide reproductions or research services beyond those required by institutional access policy. Repositories may impose reasonable limits on requests for reproductions, but such limits should be clearly stated in the institutional access policy and should also be applied equally and consistently to all users.
CITATIONS. The Archives will publish or otherwise make available to researchers a suggested form of concise citation crediting the Archives and identifying items within its holdings for later reference. Citations to copies of materials in other repositories should include the locations of the originals.
COPYRIGHT. It is the researcher’s obligation to satisfy copyright law when copying or using materials found in collections. The Archives will inform a researcher about the copyright status of material, the researcher’s obligations with regard to such material, and, wherever possible, the owner or owners of the copyrights.