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Policy Recap



From: Daniel Sokolow@MCGRAW-HILL on 01/20/2000 02:42 PM


To:   archives@listserv.muohio.edu
cc:
Subject:  Policy Recap

As promised, the information I got on archival policies, and my thanks to those
who offered their policies:

1) Florida State Archives, courtesy Elisabeth Golding:

On our web site at http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/ are a number of our
policies.  These can be found under the links to "Publications and Forms"/
"Handbooks"/"Florida State Archives Collection Development Policy" and to
"Florida State Archives Collections and Services"/"Information for
Researchers"

2) Archives of British Columbia, courtesy Lynne Tibbett:

http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/rim/rim_man/rim_man.htm

3) Nova Scotia Archives, courtesy Julie Morris:

http://www.nsarm.ednet.ns.ca/ahm/

I did get several other responses, but in keeping with the wishes of the
senders, I will not send out their policies to the list at large.  There are
significant confidentiality issues, and I don't think it appropriate to disburse
other people's property to the world.

Some points worth noting, though.  It's no surprise to me that the three public
archives that responded to me all have their policies available on the Internet.
I suppose FOIA laws make that necessary, and I suspect their collections by
definition are more open to the public.

The others were from private archives, mostly corporate (which I personally need
most anyway, so lucky me!).  Some common themes in the policies (and I really
haven't even read them all yet, much less digested them) include: significant
time restrictions, going upwards of 30 years for confidential materials;
requirement to vet requests with various departments, often the legal
department, before allowing users access (external users have it tougher, of
course); and often there's a mention of the archive's role in the company,
particularly it's responsibility to promote the company's values.

There's more, but this should do us all for a start.

DS


Daniel Sokolow
Corporate Archivist
The McGraw-Hill Companies
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
daniel_sokolow@mcgraw-hill.com

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