Providing reference service in the St. Louis Room is an interactive process.  It requires the staff to mediate among the users, the policy, the finding aids, and the materials themselves.  The St. Louis Room reference policy indicates who may use the materials deposited in the St. Louis Room and how these materials may be used.  Its purpose is to allocate St. Louis Room resources for patron service in accordance with our mission as fairly as possible while protecting the materials from physical harm or damage.

The access policy, although certainly related to the reference policy, has a different purpose.  The access policy attempts to mediate the patron's desire to see, study, and use information in materials held by the St. Louis Room with the need to protect some kinds of information from premature or inappropriate disclosure.  Rather than focusing on "who" may use materials and "how" they can use them as indicated by the reference policy, the access policy defines "what" materials may be used and "when" they can be used.

In developing its access policies, the staff of the St. Louis Room has considered the concepts of right to know, privacy, confidentiality, and equality of access.  Some of these concepts are embodied in law, while others are reflected in deeds of gift, transmittal agreements, or in professional ethical norms.  The St. Louis Room access policies are written in consultation with all interested and affected parties, applying relevant laws, in the context of the mission and resources of the St. Louis Room.

REFERENCE

All processed or cataloged and unrestricted collections or items in the St. Louis Room are open to anyone who demonstrates a legitimate research or information need that might be satisfied by the collections.  The primary responsibility of the staff of the St. Louis Room, however, is to serve the needs of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Saint Louis University.  Responding to the needs of outside scholars and the general public is important, but it is a secondary responsibility.  Information and research requests involving items in the St. Louis Room may be made in person, by letter, by telephone, or electronically.

IN PERSON—Any researcher who comes to the St. Louis Room to use its collections is required to complete a patron registration form upon entering the room.  This registration process involves presenting photo identification and providing one's name, affiliation, and purpose or subject of research.  In addition, the patron agrees to abide by generally accepted standards and principles regarding the proper use and handling of archival and rare book materials.

BY LETTER—Requests by mail for information either about or in the St. Louis Room collections are welcome.  Please read the policies in the "Services" section.  Provide in the letter as much information as possible about the subject of a request.  Notification of receipt of a request will be sent with a postcard.  Please allow four weeks for a response.

BY PHONE—Telephone requests for information either about or in the St. Louis Room collections are welcome.  Please read the policies in the "Services" section.  For every telephone request received, a written request form is completed.  Please provide staff with as much information as possible about the subject of a request.  Please allow four weeks for a response.

ELECTRONICALLY—Requests by E:Mail for information either about or in the St. Louis Room collections are welcome. Please read the policies in the "Services" section. Please provide staff with as much information as possible about the subject of a request.  Notification of receipt of request will be sent via E:Mail.  Please allow four weeks for a response.

ACCESS

A separate access policy exists for each of the three functional components of the St. Louis Room.

1.  The Archives

University Records--Access to the non-active records of Saint Louis University deposited in the University Archives is determined according to the following criteria:

1. All relevant federal and state laws--The most important federal law affecting access to university records is The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.  Other than directory type information, no office in the University is permitted to disclose information from a student's education records without the permission of the student or his/her parents.  The Saint Louis University Archives actually has few records for students attending Saint Louis University after 1920.  Any requests for education records for a student attending after 1920 should be made to the Office of the University Registrar.  Those records of students attending Saint Louis University before 1920 and deposited in the Archives are more than seventy-five years old and may be accessed by a researcher with a legitimate purpose.
    
2. The conditions of the transmittal agreement--At the time of the transfer of any university records to the Archives, the transmitting office and the Archives discuss the content of the records and complete a transmittal agreement on which any access restrictions are noted.
    
3. The "Ten Year/Current President Rule"--It is the policy of the Archives that no University records less than ten years old or created during the term of the current University President may be accessed.  This rule applies even if the transmitting office did not impose any access restrictions at the time of transfer.
    
4. Professional judgment of the archivist--One of the archivist's professional responsibilities is to regularly review the contents of collections.  This review is intended not only to monitor the physical condition of the items, but also to evaluate the relationship between access to the collection and the issues of personal privacy and confidentiality.  Thus, the St. Louis Room may restrict access to items in a collection if the archivist believes that permitting such access would violate the rights to privacy or confidentiality of an individual represented in the collection.
    
5. Physical condition of the records--The St. Louis Room does reserve the right  to set limits on or prohibit access to an item because of its physical condition.
    
6. Any access decision or judgment may be appealed in writing to the University Librarian.

Personal Papers and Manuscripts--Access to collections of personal papers and manuscripts deposited in the University Archives is determined according to the following criteria:

1. All relevant federal and state laws
    
2. The conditions of the donor agreement/deed of gift--At the time a gift of a collection of personal papers is being negotiated, the donor and the Archives discuss the content of the papers and indicate on the donor agreement what conditions or access restrictions are to be placed on the gift.
    
3. Professional judgment of the archivist--One of the archivist's professional responsibilities is to regularly review the contents of collections.  This review is intended not only to monitor the physical condition of the items, but also to evaluate the relationship between access to the collection and the issue of personal privacy and confidentiality.  Thus, the St. Louis Room may restrict access to items in a collection if the staff believes that permitting such access would violate the rights to privacy or confidentiality of an individual represented in the collection.
    
4. Physical condition of the papers--The St. Louis Room does reserve the right to set limits on or prohibit access to an item because of its physical condition.
    
5. Any access decision or judgment may be appealed in writing to the University Librarian.

2.  The Library

Virtually all of the material in the St. Louis Room Library are either printed books or serials.  The nature of books and serials is that they are published items intended for both distribution to and use by the general public.  Thus access to most items in the library component of the St. Louis Room is unrestricted.  The St. Louis Room does reserve the right, however, to set limits on or prohibit access to an item because of its physical condition.  It is also possible that the donor of a particular item or collection might place some type of access restriction on an item.  Any such restrictions will be indicated on the donor agreement.

3.  The Museum

Access to the objects comprising the St. Louis Room's small museum collection is determined according to the following criteria:

1. The conditions of the donor agreement/deed of gift--At the time a gift of an object or a collection of personal papers or records containing an object is being negotiated, the donor or transmitter and the Archives discuss the nature of the object and indicate on the donor agreement what conditions or access restrictions are to be placed on the gift.
    
2. Professional judgment of the archivist--One of the archivist's professional responsibilities is to regularly review the contents of collections, including collections of objects.  This review is intended not only to monitor the physical condition of the items, but also to evaluate the relationship between access to the object and the issue of personal privacy and confidentiality.  Thus, the St. Louis Room may restrict access to an object if the staff believes that permitting such access would violate the rights to privacy or confidentiality of an individual represented by the object.
    
3. Physical condition of the object--The St. Louis Room does reserve the right to set limits on or prohibit access to an item because of its physical condition.
    
4. Any access decision or judgment may be appealed in writing to the University Librarian.

Generally, objects in museum collections are intended to be viewed by the public with few, if any, access or viewing restrictions.