Archives and Special Collections

Purpose

Archives and Special Collections at the Wilson Library provides source materials of significant historical and/or research value that support teaching and learning at the University of La Verne. It collects items that are unique enough to require special handling, or that are rare because of their values, rarity, fragility, size, subject emphasis, form, or provenance. It is the responsibility of University Archivist to see that these items are protected, organized, marketed to potential patrons, and displayed in a responsible and scholarly manner.  Furthermore, the University Archivist will maintain a reasonable compromise among use, preservation, and security at all times. The following guidelines are flexible, but provide a framework for maintaining the current collections and building on their strengths.

Users

The primary responsibility of Archives and Special Collections is to the faculty, students, and staff at the University of La Verne, as well as to the City of La Verne and surrounding community. It also provides access to scholars from national and international institutions.  The University Archivist will also exhibit documents and artifacts on the main campus of the University.

Emphasis

Special Collections in divided into three main areas:

Archives

• Papers of major individuals associated with the University
• Records from the University, such as meeting minutes
• Photographs of students, faculty, staff, and campuses of the University
• University serials such as yearbooks or La Verne Magazine
• Publications by faculty and alumni printed through major publishers[1]

Rare Books

• Western American history, especially California history
• American Literature
• European history
• Hymnology
• Various historical editions of the Christian Bible

Brethren Collection

• Brethren materials associated with the development of the University
• Brethren history until 1933

Purchases and Acquisitions

Archives and Special Collections gladly receives gifts that reflect its major areas of interest, or reflect the curriculum or research interests of University of La Verne faculty. Acquisitions will be made solely to build the strengths of Archives and Special Collections. Disposition of gifts will become the responsibility of the University Archivist and the University Library Staff.

1. Archives and Special Collections materials do not circulate, and do not leave the Reading Room.
2. Users must exercise care when handling materials; materials must not be marked, folded, leaned upon, or paper-clipped.
3. Please use only pencils in the Reading Room.  The use of ink pens is prohibited in the room.
4. Researchers will be asked to use gloves when handling fragile materials.
5. Researchers will be allowed to use only one box at a time. Materials should remain in their original order. If they are out of order, call this to the attention of the staff. Only archives staff are permitted to obtain material from shelves, cabinets, and boxes. When finished with a collection, return records to the staff.
6. For the protection of the collection, the archives staff also reserves the right to restrict the use of records that are not fully processed, are of exceptional value, or are fragile.
7. Researchers using archives for publication should familiarize themselves with the subject of copyright (literary property rights) and libel. Researchers are cautioned to examine the issue particularly concerning incoming correspondence in collections, especially if quotation or publication is planned or anticipated. Transfer of copyright by a donor(s) encompasses only those items to which the author has legal title. The library reserves the right to refuse to copy materials if, in its judgment, this would result in a violation of copyright. Archives and Special Collections staff disclaims any responsibility for violations of copyright through the improper use of copies made by researchers.
8. When using original manuscript materials or photographs for papers, dissertations or publications, the Archives and Special Collections, Wilson Library, is to be cited as the source repository.
9. Fragile books will not be copied.  Copying of rare books will be done at the discretion of the archives staff, by the archives staff.
10. The researcher agrees not to place any materials copied for or by him/her in the Archives and Special Collections in any other library, archives, or manuscripts repository. 

The University of La Verne encourages the use of all items online for fair use purposes such as teaching, research, and private study. For materials in which the University is identified as the owner of copyright, permission to use those materials for purposes other than personal research, teaching and scholarly work may be granted by the curator for the particular collection, identified below. Permission is not necessary for fair uses; Archives and Special Collections requests, however, that fair uses include an appropriate notice of copyright and attribution. Works of the government of the United States and, in general, works created before 1923 are in the public domain and permission is not required to make use of these works.

For materials that are not in the public domain and in which the University does not hold copyright, it is the responsibility of the patron to determine whether a particular use requires permission. The University may not make such determinations for the patron. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright law specifically authorizes the use of works protected by copyright without permission for "purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching ..., scholarship or research."

Uses of materials that fall outside the scope of fair use may require the prior permission of the copyright owner who may also require payment of a fee or royalty. It is solely the patron's obligation to determine and ensure that use of material fully complies with copyright law and other possible restrictions on use. The holding repository will furnish what information it has, if any, regarding the owner of copyright and restrictions on the use of particular materials. The nature of archival materials may make it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the owner of copyright and restrictions on the use of some materials. The following resources may be helpful in determining if a particular use is fair and identifying the copyright owner and copyright status of a work:

• How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work, U.S. Copyright Office

• Duration of Copyright, U.S. Copyright Office

• Checklist for Fair Use, Copyright Management Center, Indiana University / Purdue University, Indianapolis

• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States, Peter Hirtle, Cornell University

• Obtaining Permission to Use Copyrighted Works for Educational Use, Copyright Management Center, IU/PUI

Digital Collections Take-Down Policy and Disclaimer

These digitized collections are accessible for purposes of education and research. We’ve indicated what we know about copyright and rights of privacy, publicity, or trademark. Due to the nature of archival and other collections, we are not always able to identify this information. We are eager to hear from any rights owners, so that we may obtain accurate information. Upon request, we’ll remove material from public view while we address a rights issue. See below for further information.

With all such communications, please include:

A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner. NOTE: If an agent is providing the notification, also include a statement that the agent is authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the Library to locate the material. Providing URLs in your communication is the best way to help us locate content quickly.

The Library may work with the University counsel to make determinations about appropriate use. Depending on these determinations, the Library may restrict access to the work(s) in question or remove them from its systems. Removing the work(s) in question will result in the Library ceasing to provide long-term preservation resources to the digitized content. Parties who wish to contest the Library’s uses of specific works may, at their discretion, issue a DMCA take-down notice.

Disclaimer

The University of La Verne makes digital versions of collections accessible in the following situations: they are in the public domain; the rights are owned by the University of La Verne; the University of La Verne has permission to make them accessible; Wilson Library at the University of La Verne has chosen to make them accessible for education and research purposes as a legal fair use; or, there are no known restrictions on use.