Xavier University of Louisiana
Archives and Special Collections
Collection Policy
Collecting Mission
The mission of Xavier University Archives and Special Collections is to document
the function of Xavier University of Louisiana throughout its existence by
preserving, arranging, describing, and providing appropriate access to the
university’s records of permanent historical, legal, or administrative value by
acquiring, preserving, and providing access to a wide range of primary research
material, including books (Rare Books), manuscripts, archives, audio-visual and
other born-digital materials, objects, realia, and other items in support of the
educational and research activities of faculty, students, and all researchers.
Additionally,
Our mission to acquire and preserve materials is coupled with a commitment to
outreach and access. We will describe, arrange, and digitize our collections for all
who seek what they contain and we will acquire and preserve artifacts and
information essential to our college and the world at large. Materials are described
according to national standards established by the American Library Association
and the Society of American Archivists. Xavier Archives and Special Collections
creates regular exhibitions both in the Library and online. We are committed to
digitizing collection materials and making them freely available. We regularly
hosts group visits for tours and classroom instruction sessions. Whenever possible
we seek to collaborate with faculty and students to incorporate Archives and
Special Collection materials into the undergraduate curriculum.
Collecting activities will focus on content that can be freely shared. In some cases
Xavier Archives and Special Collections may need to restrict access to records, but
it is our purpose to provide collections to as wide an audience as possible.
Scope
Xavier Archives and Special Collections serves as a repository for rare,
irreplaceable, unique, or otherwise valuable items in various formats which
warrant special handling of care to assure their long-term availability and supports
research by a wide range of patrons, including undergraduates, faculty, and other
scholars and researchers whose work relies on primary materials, including rare
books, manuscripts, media, and archival records. Archives and Special Collections
primary collecting responsibility is to produce, gather, organize, maintain,
disseminate, promote, and preserve digital content of the University’s records that
are useful to the curriculum, in need of preservation, and unique to the University
and of use to the larger scholarly community. Additionally, given the University’s
historic place as the only majority black and majority Catholic university in the
United States, the collection also focuses on documenting blacks, Catholics, and
black Catholics, primarily of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf region.
Archives and Special Collections also collects primary materials created by faculty
of Xavier University. Additionally, Archives and Special Collections collects
materials of authors whose writings relate to blacks or Catholics, primarily of New
Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf region.
The focus of Xavier University Archives and Special Collections Digital
Collections is unique or rare content from collections owned by the Library or the
University at large, as well as open access scholarly content created by Xavier
University faculty. Unique and rare content may be created through digitization of
selected analog materials or through accession of born-digital content. Open
access scholarly articles are accepted in support of the faculty of Xavier
University, and the digital collections may also include other types of open access
scholarly materials (for example, data sets, creative works, etc.) as the need arises.
While the department will digitize non-unique images for teaching based on
faculty demand, those materials are not in the scope of this document. This policy
will be reviewed periodically and updated.
University Archives
Materials may be acquired through purchase, transfer, or gift, but selection for
placement in the University Archives lies with the Archives and Special
Collections staff and the approval of the Head Librarian.
The following types of records are maintained in the Xavier University Archives:
Organization documents (e. g.) charters, constitutions, policy statements, and
reports, minutes, substantive memoranda, correspondence, and subject files for the
University’s:
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President’s office
Executive Vice-President’s office
Academic and administrative offices, units, and committees
Louisiana Corporation Records of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Reports of:
 Self-studies and accreditation visits
 Annual budgets and audits
 Academic and administrative offices and units
Records of:
 Departmental operation, e. g., minutes, reports, syllabi, faculty vitae,
correspondence
 Retired, resigned, or deceased personnel employed by Xavier
 Academic, honorary, service, and social organizations of students, faculty,
administrators, and staff activity connected with the university.
 Publications, newsletters, posters, and booklets about or distributed by the
university, e. g., books, posters, magazines, catalogs, special bulletins,
yearbooks, student newspapers, university directories and faculty/staff
rosters, alumni magazines, lecture series, and ephemeral materials.
Special formats materials documenting the operation and development of the
university, such as:
 Still photographs, digital images, slides, negatives, motion picture film,
audio, audiovisual cassettes and multi-media productions
 Maps and plans of the campus and its buildings
 Master’s and Honor’s thesis, dissertations, and portfolios
 Artifacts related to Xavier University
As an institutional archive, records maintained are created by the university and
they come to the Archives through departmental transfer rather than by donation
from outside sources (see below for donations to Special Collections). Personal
research and papers of faculty, students, and alumni which are not related to the
official operation of the university are considered to be the private property of the
individuals who produced them, and as such, it is at the discretion of the producer
of those records, in consultation with Archives staff, whether they are deposited
into the Archives and Special Collections, or instead donated to whichever archival
repository the creator chooses.
Special Collections
Special Collections acquires or provides access to a variety of print materials,
unpublished manuscripts, and archival holdings. Specific selection criteria for
acquisitions applicable to Archives and Special Collections include, but are not
limited to:
 Quality of material
 Circumstances of creation
 Authoritativeness
 Enduring value: evidential, informational, and intrinsic
 Cost of Retention: processing, storage, preservation, technical support
 Format appropriateness
 Copyright
Acquisition Guidelines
Deed of Gift: Donations must be accompanied by a legal transfer of title, a deed
of gift or deposit, or other official acknowledgement. For gifts of archival
collections, personal papers, or manuscripts materials, please contact the Archives
and Special Collections staff at (504) 520-7655. A Deed of Gift Agreement must
be completed and signed by both the donor and a representative of Xavier Archives
and Special Collections.
Collection Management
The Archives and Special Collections staff, in consultation with Technical Services
support staff and Xavier Library’s System’s Librarian, will conduct ongoing
assessments of the content of Archives Special Collections to ensure adequate and
appropriate resources to support the mission of the department.
Preservation
Materials in Archives and Special Collections receive conservation/preservation
treatment at the point of acquisition and are reviewed after each use for
preservation concerns that may arise over time and as resources allow.
Loans and Deposits:
Due to the high costs of storing, preserving, and making collection available for
researchers, materials on loan or deposit are only accepted for extraordinary
reasons, and usually with the understanding that the materials are to be donated
outright at a later date.
Closed Collections:
Collections closed to public access in perpetuity will not be accepted.
Appraisals:
Due to legal considerations, no appraisal of donations will be made by the
Archives and Special Collections staff. Donors desiring an appraisal will be
provided that names of qualified appraisers, and, when appropriate,
will work with the donor to obtain an appraisal and to obtain information on the tax
benefits of gifts.
Deaccessioning
Archives and Special Collections does not typically deaccession collections.
However, any materials within the collection, which are deemed to no longer meet
the criteria of the collection mission, may be deaccessioned. Should Archives and
Special Collections determine the necessity of re-appraising a collection, or portion
thereof, the following criteria for current collection guidelines will be used to
evaluate materials to be deaccessioned:
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Collection level: How vital is the item to research?
Intrinsic value: Is the item a seminal work in its field?
Format: Is the format obsolete?
Duplication: Is demand sufficient for multiple copies of the item?
Physical Condition: Is an item damaged in such a way that prohibits its
use? Should it be reformatted?
 Research value: Are materials still valuable for research interests?
 Uniqueness: Is the item irreplaceable, unique, or otherwise valuable?
 Usage: How often has the item/collection been retrieved for use? Can we
anticipate future use?
Archival Cooperation: In the interest of cooperation among archival repositories,
materials offered to Xavier Archives and Special Collections that fall outside the
collection purview of the Archives and Special Collections will be referred to an
appropriate archival repository.
Digitization: When possible, new collections will be considered for digitization,
in whole or in part, for inclusion in an online repository.
Born Digital Collections
Xavier Archives and Special Collections is responsible for the selection, creation,
delivery, and preservation of the Library’s digital collections. Xavier Archives and
Special Collections adhere to national and international community-based
standards and best practices.
Xavier Archives and Special Collections, both in-house and in the outsourcing of
special formats, is responsible for programmatic digitization. That is, the
production of preservation-quality digital objects as part of the development of
coherent digital collections that support the mission of the Library and the
University. Digitization decisions will be guided by the policy herein, which
outlines specific subject areas collected and states the department’s commitment to
“to digitize collection materials and make them available.”
Selecting content, whether born-digital or digitized, is only one piece in the
ongoing process of building digital collections. The development and management
of digital collections also involves project management and strategic planning;
metadata creation and management; the development and use of systems to create,
manage, preserve, and deliver digital content; and the ongoing assessment of
digital collections and services. The success of these activities will hinge upon
collaboration. Xavier Archives and Special Collections will work closely with
other units in the Library to realize our goals, and will collaborate with other units
in the University and with external institutions and organizations as appropriate.
Selection Factors
Although the following criteria refer to selecting content for digitalization, the
same factors will be applied when selecting born-digital materials. Because Xavier
Archives and Special Collections does not have oversight for the creation of borndigital materials, greater attention will also need to be paid to evaluation of their
technical characteristics and other factors related to Xavier Archives and Special
Collection’s ability to preserve those materials digitally.
Xavier Archives and Special Collections highly prefers that if potential
contributors are interested in digitizing their own content to be added to the
collections, they coordinate with the Xavier Archives and Special Collections in
advance to establish the correct digital protocols. In general, inactive records of
enduring value, held in analog form in offices and departments on campus
(regardless of whether these records have already been digitized by the current
holder), should be transferred to the Archives before that content can be added to
the digital collections. This is in keeping with the ongoing role of the Archives,
and allows Archives staff to have continued access to analog original materials in
case re-digitization is ever necessary.
Copyright Status
Most materials consider for digitization will fall into one of the following
categories:
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Works in the public domain
Works under a valid open access or Creative Commons license
Works for which Xavier University holds the copyright
Works for which Xavier Archives and Special Collections has obtained
permission to digitize and provide unrestricted access
Xavier Archives and Special Collections may also digitize materials determine to
be Orphan Works, i.e., works for which the copyright holder cannot be located.
Rarely, Xavier Archives and Special Collections may digitize works known to be
under copyright for on-campus, educational or preservation uses only under the
Fair Use protections of the Copyright Act. For more information please review the
document cited below on orphaned works and mass communication.
http://copyright.gov/orphan/reports/orphan-works2015.pdf
Significance of the Materials
The significance of content is a subjective judgement, and requires the evaluation
of a number of factors. Xavier Archives and Special Collections will consider
these questions:
 Would experts confirm the importance of the material?
 How are the materials currently used? What impact might digitization have
on use?
 Do the materials complement existing digital content?
 Will digitization of the materials enhance their intellectual value?
Current and Potential Users
The following use factors may indicate good candidates for digitization:
 Materials receive heavy use
 Physical condition or current access of the originals limit use
 Electronic access would enhance value to users
 Materials are dispersed
Organization and Metadata
Regardless of the importance of a collection, it must be organized and described
before it can be digitized. Books must be cataloged. Archives and manuscript
materials must be processed and have a finding aid, though item-level metadata
may be created as part of the development of the digital collection. Metadata must
follow nationally recognized best practices.
Relationship to Other Collections
Materials that build on existing digital collections, whether at Xavier University or
elsewhere, can improve research in a specific subject area and increase the research
value of the materials themselves. Potential for collaborative collection building is
an important factor to consider.
Funding Sources
Donors and grant-making agencies may stipulate funding priorities that impact
digitization. Matching high-priority materials to appropriate funding sources is
critical.
Limitations
Materials that meet digitization criteria will not be digitized if they:
 Cannot be shared without violating copyright law (see above for details)
 Are duplicative of materials digitized elsewhere, so long as the existing
digital object follows the characteristics of god digital objects and is broadly
accessible
 Do not comprise a complete work (e.g., a single page from a book)
Digitization
Digitization activities will likely fall into one of three categories:
 Ongoing digitization of entire collections or large portions of collections.
Ongoing digitization is done by Xavier Archives and Special Collections
staff. These projects are generally not subject to specific deadlines.
 Specially-funded digitization projects made possible through grants or gifts.
These may involve additional short-term staff and will likely be subject to
specific deadlines and special project parameters.
 Digitization based on user requests of materials that are unique or rare, fit
the selection criteria, and receive regular use. This includes material
requested by researchers in the Archives, by faculty for teaching purposes,
and by users through Interlibrary Loan. Although single-purpose
digitization is necessary, it is not the focus of our digital collection
development, and these materials will be evaluated according to the same
criteria as other digitization projects.
Maintenance and Removal
This policy is designed in part to ensure the development of digital collections that
are of high quality, useful, durable, and cohesive. It is possible, however, that
individual objects or entire collections may need to be removed or de-accessioned
for reasons of collecting weeding, storage, or copyright dispute, among others.
These decisions will be made in conjunction with Xavier Archives and Special
Collections, and others, as appropriate.