BHCC ARCHIVES POLICY STATEMENT

Scope:
The scope of the BHCC Archives includes selected College publications, faculty & student publications, institutional and academic documents, College Committees' records, Board of Trustees records, administrative records, photographs, publicity, and student life records. See the PUBLICATIONS section for details & specifics.

Storage:
The Archives materials are stored and made available for access in accordance with the access parameters stated in the access section of this document.

Access:
The Archives materials may be used by appointment in the designated area in the library during the regular library hours under supervision of a librarian. The signed permission of the Library Director is required for visitors not currently employed or otherwise affiliated with BHCC. They may be required to submit a request letter before visiting and produce an affirmative response from the Library Director as a means of access to the BHCC Archives materials. All visitors will be required to sign the BHCC Archives Visitor register and be prepared to produce valid identification if the attending librarian requests it. The visitor's register is kept for use and other statistical purposes and is protected under the rules of confidentiality of library users. Trained library staff will be available to assist visitors in using finding aids (i.e. databases and indexes) to identify and locate archival materials. Visitors must follow the preservation guidelines for using materials in Archives, these will be presented in a handout provided by the librarian at the time of the visit.

Ownership:
Records produced for and by BHCC are considered by law to be public records . The Massachusetts Public Record Law provides that any person has a right to access public information. (Exemptions apply. See also Massachusetts General Law statutes 27, 36. )

Collection Development:
The Archives Collection Development guidelines apply across the college departments, as criteria for determining the appropriate materials for inclusion in the BHCC archives. The BHCC Communications Department and its Office of Institutional Effectiveness agree to work in collaboration with the library to review and encourage Archives submissions and to ensure that all eligible College publications are routinely included in the BHCC Archives collection.

Publications produced with BHCC logo are a mandatory part of the Archives collection. The officer in charge of each administrative and/or academic office is required to send two copies of each publication created by the office to the College Archives.
The following publications are part of the Archives collection and should be retained permanently:

BHCC photograph collection.
The current photograph collection represents the college and student life in fragments and is due for development. BHCC Communications Department when possible will provide photographs of College events with annotations, which should include dates, names and locations. Routine calls will be put out to encourage contributions to the retrospective as well as current college photograph collection.

Copyright:
General copyright laws are applied for individually owned publications and public record items might be copied upon the payment of a reasonable fee. Guided by established copyright regulations, trained librarians will assist visitors with photocopying and/or scanning of archival materials.

Special Collection
In conjunction with the Archives the BHCC library is developing a Special Collection.