About the Archives

In order to protect our materials, we ask researchers to follow these rules:

• You must register with the Archives & Special Collections librarian when you enter the reading room and provide a valid Benedictine ID, U.S. driver’s license or state ID, or passport.
• Enjoy your food and drinks in the other areas of the library before or after your visit. No food and drink is permitted in the reading room because they can damage materials.
• Leave all coats and bags, including laptop cases, with the librarian. Only appropriate research tools (notebooks, pencils, laptop computers, digital cameras) may be brought into the room.
• Be gentle with materials and keep documents in the order in which you find them.
• Do not mark any materials and use only pencils for taking written notes.
• Copying will be done by archives staff unless permission is given by the archivist. Due to the fragility of some materials, the archivist reserves the right to refuse copy requests.
• Check with the archivist before taking photos or scanning material. Some materials may have restrictions on their use.
• If you plan to use an image or excerpt in a print or Web publication (including research papers, articles, and blogs or other social media), you must contact the librarian.

• You must request permission from the Archives & Special Collections librarian to publish or to release media created employing the contents of Archives and Special Collections materials. This includes but is not limited to use of photographs, images, and excerpts in articles, papers, Websites, blogs, and social media.
• Whenever possible, we grant one-time publication and media production rights to applicants. In granting single-work permission to publish or to produce media, Benedictine University does not surrender its own right to publish or to release media created from materials in its collections or to grant permission to others to publish them.
• If single-work, one-time permission to publish or to release media is granted, you must indicate the location of the cited material in the published work. Refer to our Citing Archives Materials page for guidelines.
• We request that researchers donate a copy of all publications or media works that rely heavily on the collections of the Benedictine University Archives to the Library upon publication or release.
• Benedictine University does not assume responsibility for infringement of copyright in the material held by others.