Archives & Special Collections welcomes everyone!  Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our policies and procedures below. Procedures derive from these basic concerns:

• Quality of service to researchers
• Security and preservation of the materials
• Courtesy to other researchers; and compliance with University and library regulations

Our responsibility for proper care of the unique materials entrusted to us requires us to institute the following safeguards in the reading room:

• As a prospective user of archival or manuscript collections, rare books and other items, you will be asked to complete a registration form on your first visit to Archives & Special Collections. As part of this process, you will be asked to provide a form of identification.
• Items permitted in the Reading Room include loose sheets of note paper, note cards, a cell phone, a digital camera, and a laptop computer. You will be requested to place any items not permitted in the Reading Room [such as brief cases, book bags, backpacks, tote bags, sacks, purses, camera bags, and computer carrying bags] in the key-operated storage lockers. All hats, coats, umbrellas, or other items which will not fit in a locker must be deposited in a space designated by the Reading Room staff. The use of pens is prohibited; pencils may be obtained from the Reading Room attendant.
• As a courtesy to other researchers, we ask that all cell phones be set to silent/vibrate or placed in the storage lockers. You should exit the room to make and receive any calls.
• You may take digital photographs of material, but you must sign the Policy on Digital Reproductions with Personal Devices form, which states you understand that material you are photographing may be protected by copyright. Scanning equipment may only be used with permission from the Associate University Librarian of Archives & Special Collections on a case by-case basis.
• Materials will not be retrieved within 30 minutes of closing. All materials must be returned 15 minutes before closing.  Upon request, materials may be held on reserve in the Reading Room.