Call for Member Comment: SAA-ACRL/RBMS Guidelines on Access to Research Materials

The SAA-ACRL/RBMS Joint Task Force seeks member comment on the revised Guidelines on Access to Research Materials in Archives and Special Collections Libraries. These guidelines outline the responsibilities for researcher access, as well as legal and institutional obligations, for a repository in preserving collections for use. 

The SAA-ACRL/RBMS Joint Task force to Revise the Statement on Access to Research Materials was convened in 2017 to review, update, and expand the Statement on Access to Research Materials. The goal of the Joint Task Force was to address digital and born-digital materials, as they are not mentioned in the current version of the statement, and to streamline the document for maximum usability. To that end, the Joint Task Force removed ambiguous language, acknowledged the range of repository types and how these guidelines can be utilized, and removed redundant or outdated information. 

The statement was first drafted by the Joint Committee on Library-Archives Relationships as "Standards for Access to Research Materials in Archival Manuscript Repositories," endorsed by SAA and ACRL/RBMS in 1973. Since then, the statement has been revised several times, most recently in 2009.

Two main questions we would like you to comment on:

  Do you agree with the changes the Task Force has proposed?

Is there anything you think anything is missing?

To comment on this draft: See the attachments below for the proposed revisions in PDF or Word format. (For reference, view the current version of the Statement.) Log in to post comments publicly on this webpage or send an email message containing your comments to saahq@archivists.org. The deadline for final comments on this revised draft is 5:00 pm CT on Friday, February 15.