Coventry University Archives: Handling and using archives

The archive material held by the University is unique and irreplaceable, so guidelines must be followed to safeguard items when they are being consulting in the university library.

Handling instructions will be on display during visits, and archives users will be made aware of their responsibilities when studying material from the collections in the designated Reading Area. The Archivist will be on hand to supervise you.

Researchers will need to provide identification and will be asked to sign a visitors’ sheet to give contact details and to confirm that they will abide by the handling and using archives guidelines. Contact information provided on the visitors’ sheet will be only used in compliance with the Data Protection Act and any other relevant legislation.

Please :

• Ensure your hands are clean and lotion-free before handling material.
• Use book supports and weights provided (if required) e.g. for bound volumes.
• Keep loose items in the correct order, and in the right box or file.
• Where present, re-tie tapes around books and folders after use.
• Use pencil or a laptop, tablet, mobile phone (set to silent) for taking notes.
• When handling photographic material, use the nitrile gloves provided.
• Report any damage you discover.
• Seek permission to take photographs (the use of flash photography is not permitted) and complete a copyright form.
• Comply with Copyright and Data Protection legislation, and other access restrictions.

Please DO NOT :

• Bring food, drink, pens or ink into the Reading Area.
• Remove items from the Reading Area.
• Mark, or make erasures, in any item.
• Place open items face-down, lean, or rest anything on them.
• Rearrange any archives, remove items from transparent sleeves, take tracings or rubbings, mark any records in any way or lay books, papers or other objects (except book-weights) on the archives.

Visitors are asked to comply with any requests made by the Archivist or library staff.

Material that is fragile or requires conservation will not be available to researchers.

Anyone found deliberately damaging or defacing holdings will have access to material withdrawn.

If you are intending to publish or reproduce documents held by Coventry University Archives & Special Collections, you must first seek permission from the Archivist or library staff.

Reproductions of archival material for private research and non-commercial purposes are usually made available via a Creative Commons licence. Images for digitised material can be found on our online catalogue.

An access fee may be charged if Coventry University provides a reproduction of non-digitised material for publication.

Acknowledgement for reproductions in any public work should be made to ‘Coventry University Archives & Special Collections’.

If a researcher wishes to reproduce an item held within the archive collections (in part or in full) within their work, permission must also be obtained from the copyright holder. In some cases the copyright holder will not be Coventry University.

Responsibility for obtaining permission from the copyright holder rests with the researcher.

Some items may be photocopied, scanned or photographed (non-flash only), in accordance with copyright and other legislation, and any access restrictions. If copying is done using a self-service copier in the library, it must be carried out under supervision. Fragile or damaged items cannot be copied (only photographed).

Access restrictions may be in place for a variety of reasons including protection of personal information, copyright, closure periods (as required by legislation), and fragility of documents.