Acquisition Practices

When presented with an opportunity to add new material to our archives, several factors must be considered. Spec staff and faculty use the following criteria to determine if an acquisition is prudent.

  • Are the materials related to one of Spec’s collection focus areas?
  • Are the materials rare, unique, or historically valuable?
  • Will the materials add meaningfully to future research?
  • Are the materials likely to be used by researchers and other patrons?
  • Is the donor or seller in a position to transfer legal ownership to the U of I?
  • Are the materials in stable condition and can they be reasonably preserved for future use with minimal conservation work?
  • Do the materials pose any risk to other archival holdings due to contamination or other hazards?
  • Does Spec have the physical space needed to accept the materials?
  • What state of arrangement are the materials in?
  • Are there restrictions associated with the materials and will the public have free and open access to the information?

It is acknowledged that adding materials to Spec is a subjective process based upon the best judgment of the people working in the department at the time of donation. Additions of materials more than one cubic foot in volume should generally happen in consultation with the Head of Special Collections and Archives (Head), who reserves the right to make final decisions on acquisitions. In cases involving very large collections, potentially sensitive material, purchasing of material, or the possibility of a financial gift, the Dean of the Library should be included in the decision-making process.

Donations Department Transfers Purchasing Born-Digital Materials

Donations

Items may come to Spec in a variety of ways. The most common occurrence is for materials to be donated. The donor may be the record creator, but often they are a relative, colleague, or collector. Potential gifts are generally preceded by an email, phone call, or in-person visit by the prospective donor. Spec staff or faculty should use the acquisition criteria list above to determine if the donation would be a benefit to the repository. If the answer is no, Spec representatives may offer alternatives locations to the donor for possible archiving (ex: Latah County Historical Society, Museum of North Idaho, etc.). If the answer is yes, the item would be a good candidate for Spec, the donor should fill out a Deed of Gift form. If there are materials that the department feels should not be included in the collection, follow the return or disposal procedures on the Deed of Gift form the donor filled out.

It is important to have a clear understanding of any restrictions to access proposed by the donor. Donors may request that materials remain sealed for a set amount of time or have other requirements for who can access the materials. The Head will ultimately determine if that restriction request is feasible for the department to accommodate.

Mailing Address Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 2351, Moscow, ID 83844-2351

Department Transfers

University records may come to Spec through departmental transfers. In such cases, Spec representatives (and especially the University Archivist) should attempt to communicate with the transferring unit ahead of time to ensure only appropriate materials are moved. Special considerations related to acquiring university archival materials include privacy concerns around personnel records, space constraints and the redundancy of preserving widely published materials, and how the materials relate to the essential work of the university.

Materials and the boxes or envelopes in which they are transferred should be clearly identified and labeled before transfer, and departments transferring records to the Archives should supply a complete inventory of the items being transferred. When records are not approved for archival retention, the sending department will be notified and allowed to decide whether the materials are to be returned or discarded/shredded. 

All records must be accompanied by the following information:

  1. Date of materials
    • Ex: 1981; 18 August 1875; 1978-2005
  2. Author or Creator Information
  3. Content information and inventory
  4. Known restrictions to access
  5. Name of staff and/or department sending materials

What NOT to Transfer:

  1. Non-permanent records
    • Should eventually be shredded/recycled/destroyed. The destruction date is based on the records retention schedule.
  2. Documents not related to the University of Idaho, such as publications by external organizations
  3. Records transitory in nature, having no long-term retention value
  4. More than 2 copies of anything
  5. Plaques, trophies, or framed awards
    • Instead, send a photograph of the achievement to the Archives for documentation purposes.
  6. Personnel files or student records
    • These are not archival records.
  7. Active records
    • If department regularly uses the record, please do not transfer it to the Archives until access no longer needed.

Purchasing

In rare occasions, materials may be acquired through purchase. Such purchases happen at the discretion of the Head and should be based on the same considerations as listed above.

Born-Digital Materials

When discussing born-digital assets, speak with the donor about a basic inventory and whether there are encrypted* materials. An inventory will help when understanding the scope of the materials and how they fit within the archives. Be sure to use virus scans and other technologies to view and access the files (i.e. FRED) to protect against viruses or corrupted material.

  • Transfer Types
    1. Physical media (CDs, DVDs, usb drives, floppy disks, hard drives, etc)
    2. Cloud files/folders (SharePoint, Google Drive, etc)
    3. Analog materials to digitize and return to donor
  • Returning Scanned Materials:
    • If a donor wishes to have staff scan materials and have physical items returned, still follow the accessioning procedures. As mentioned below, digital materials will undergo the same accessioning and processing procedures. If the digital material accompanies some physical materials, everything should be included in the accession record with a note of what was scanned and returned.

For documentation on how to ingest materials, see Ingesting Digital Materials.

*If encrypted files are donated or transferred, Special Collections and Archives does not have the capability to access these files in-house and may need a third party to retrieve materials.

Scope of Collections Accession and Processing Procedures