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Re: ethics in archives



Part of it depends on how the materials came in to the archives.  If they
were donated by an outside person, you would need to check the donation
agreement to make sure you aren't responsible for sending anything leftover
back to them.  If it's not in the agreement, I think it would only be polite
to check with the donor to see if he/she would like it back.  If not, you're
pretty much free to do what you want with it.  Ideally, I would suggest
offering it to another repository - either in person or over the listserv.

If it came in from one of your own departments within your institution, it
sort of depends on the collecting policies you (hopefully) have in place.
Commonly, anything that makes its way to the archives is by definition no
longer of interest to the department, and becomes the property of the
archives, giving the archivist a bit more leeway.  That's not always the
type of relationship, so it should be looked into.  The polite thing, again,
is to contact the donor and follow what I suggested above.

I suppose the only other ethical question would come up if the item is
particularly valuable or rare, it's a little unethical in my opinion to take
it home for personal use.  The institution could (potentially) want to sell
the item itself, even if that itself is an ethical dilemma.

My nickel's worth, obviously.

DS
______________________________________
Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator
David Taylor Archives
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
155 Community Drive
Great Neck, NY 11021
mailto:dsokolow@nshs.edu

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andris A. Vinovskis [SMTP:avinovsk@UMICH.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2001 8:52 AM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      ethics in archives
>
> Hi I've got question I thought that I'd through out to the vast and
> knowledgeable collective on this listserv.  In processing collections what
> should you do with items that should be deaccessioned?  That is in
> processing a collection if you run across something that does not fit with
> your institutions scope what should you do with the item or items?  The
> specific case I'm thinking of involved a photocopy of a article dating
> from the nineteenth century which listed what was served at a fancy French
> dinner that took place in France.  In the end, since it was beyond the
> scope of the institution where I was working at the time, it was not kept.
> I was half tempted to take it home with me but did not.  What is the best
> course of action in working at an archives and dealing with items out of
> the repository's collecting focus?  Should items be offered to other
> institutions, returned to the donor, or just disposed of?  How much of
> this needs to be in writing?  Any thoughts or suggestions would be of help
> as I prepare to return to the field of archives.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andy
>
> Andris Vinovskis
> Information Resolution Assistant II
> Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library
> University of Michigan
> avinovsk@umich.edu
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>