University Archives

The University Archives will contribute to the comprehensive digital initiatives framework, with a mandate for ensuring that the university’s records are gathered together and preserved (or, alternatively, systematically destroyed on an approved schedule) regardless of format. Whereas the Digital Library Collections is more focused on providing content of current interest to primary user groups (faculty and students), the mission of the archives is to provide a permanent collection of the institution’s history and accomplishments.

In many instances, the university archives is still administered separately from the university’s other library collections. An example of complete separation is Duke University, where the archives are a separate library department, housed and accessed separately from any other library collection). Even where the archives is administered in conjunction with other collections, as at the University of North Carolina, it is common for the archives to have a separate web page, information page, finding aids, etc.