DRURY UNIVERSITY
F.W. OLIN LIBRARY
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND
ARCHIVES
Statement of Mission and Goals
The Special Collections and Archives section of the F.W. Olin Library has a four-fold mission: education; support for campus administrative activities; support for the research activities of alumni, their families, and selected non-Drury patrons; and preservation. Its purpose is to preserve and protect valuable library materials while still allowing controlled access to most of these items. So, although the Special Collections and Archives section serves as a repository for the library and for Drury University as a whole, it is not a Adead@ collection. Special Collections and Archives supports the educational mission of Drury by providing faculty and students with access to library materials that warrant special protection due to age, value, format, or condition. In addition, Special Collections and Archives supports the administrative activities of a variety of campus offices. It also supports the research activities of alumni and their families, and, in certain cases, of non-Drury patrons.
Education
The primary goal
of Special Collections and Archives is to support the educational and research
activities of the students and faculty of
Support for Campus Administration
Special Collections and Archives also provides a variety of support for administrative offices on campus. Administrative records, while not a part of the library=s collection, are stored in the Special Collections archival vault; the Special Collections Librarian manages the storage, retention and destruction of these records according to the wishes of the administrative offices. In addition, Special Collections and Archives provides campus offices with archival materials to support their various activities. For example, the Office of University Communications might request old photographs for us in a promotional brochure, or the Office of Alumni and Development might need archival material on a particular alumni or college class.
Support for Research by Alumni and Their Families
Another goal of Special Collections and Archives is to provide assistance for patrons doing research on Drury and Drury alumni. Very often, these patrons are themselves alumni, although occasionally requests come from the children or grandchildren of alumni who want to learn more about their relative=s days at Drury. Using old yearbooks, student publications, and, when appropriate, student records, Special Collections and Archives is often able to fulfill these requests, some of which have come from as far away as Alaska.
Support for Research by Non-Drury Patrons
Although Drury University is a private educational institution, the Special Collections and Archives section of the F. W. Olin Library will, in some instances, provide assistance and access to materials for patrons who have no Drury affiliation. Special Collections and Archives is happy to assist such patrons who have reasonable research needs that can only be fulfilled by materials in our collection. Access to the collection by such patrons is granted at the discretion of the Special Collections Librarian and the Director of the Library.
Preservation
A salient concern for the Special Collections and Archives section is preservation. The Special Collections area provides a stable environment for materials which need protection because of their age, condition, monetary or historical value, or chemical composition (as in those materials with high acid content). Special Collections also has the responsibility of identifying materials which need special care or repair, and seeing that these materials receive such care as is reasonable. In general, it is the responsibility of Special Collections and Archives to preserve and protect library and archival materials so that they can be studied and enjoyed in the future.
WWG
Reviewed 08/28/08
