University Archives

North Dakota State University Institutional Archive Collection Policy

As per NDSU Policy 713, within the approved Records Retention Schedule, there are University records that need to be transferred to the NDSU Archives for final disposition. Please follow the respective instructions below for either Hard Copy Records or Electronic Records.

Accepted Materials

The North Dakota State University Institutional Archive collects materials in all formats documenting the administrative, intellectual, cultural, and social history of NDSU from its founding to the present. The primary purpose of the repository is to collect institutional records, faculty and personal papers, department records, teaching materials, associated organization records, and historical materials.

All materials from all departments on NDSU’s campus must be donated to the NDSU institutional archive, regardless of treatment, format, or creation date. However, the records must be related to NDSU and must be original without having been mass-published or produced. The archive collects the following types of materials:

• Manuscripts, drafting processes related to manuscript creation, and archival records of members of the NDSU faculty, administration, and staff,
• Archival records of schools, offices, centers, and student organizations,
• Reports, surveys, committee records and minutes,
• Correspondence, personal papers, and journals,
• Digital files,
• Maps and architectural drawings,
• Technical reports,
• Audio and video materials,
• Oral histories,
• Scrapbooks and albums,
• Teaching materials (as long as they are self-created),
• Select artifacts and ephemera (including brochures, leaflets, pamphlets).

Materials not Accepted

When deciding to donate records to the institutional archive, keep in mind that the NDSU institution archive cannot accept all types of records. One of the major considerations is the ability to preserve the materials donated; the archive will not normally accept records that are of a particularly specialist nature, requiring skills or equipment beyond the office's resources to preserve or interpret. Only materials which in the judgment of the archivist in charge are of sufficient quality for permanent preservation will be accepted. Additionally, the following types of materials the archive discourages being donated:

• Most types of artifacts, including trophies, posters, NDSU merchandise and clothing, banners, etc.,
• Records that have been mass-produced, or are not considered unique,
• Records that do not have a clear creator or have not contextual evidence,
• Records that violate FERPA laws, meaning they contain student grade, GPA, or other academic information that cannot be shared with the public according to FERPA law,
• Newspapers, unless they contain information related to NDSU or the Red River Valley area,
• Records that contain personal information such as addresses, funding, or other financial information,
• Records that cannot be read or viewed due to damage,
• Printouts of websites or copies of other copyrighted material.

Instructions:

Checklist For Donating Materials

The NDSU institutional archive is excited to take and preserve all records created and/or related to the university. The donation process for transferring these materials to the archive has been simplified into the checklist below for your convenience.

Make sure to go through each step before transferring the materials to the archive. If you have any questions during the process, you can reach the archivist(s) at (701) 231-8914 or by email at ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu.

• Gather any materials related to NDSU that you want preserved in the institutional archive (if you are unsure whether the materials belong in the archive, refer to the “Accepted Materials” in Section III above),
• Determine if the documents are relevant to the institutional archive’s mission,
• Examine the documents for any FERPA, copyright, or other legal issues,
• Identify the creator(s)/context of creation of the documents for the archivist,
• Explain the significance of any discipline- or department-specific document that archivist(s) should be aware of,
• If the materials are organized in a logical or recognizable system then keep them in the original order. If not, then organize the materials (the most common is chronologically or by shared topic),
• Watch and/or listen to any audio-visual materials to determine if they are functional,
• For digital materials, make sure they are viewable and not password locked or created on an outdated system,
• Place any loose papers/materials into folders, or boxes if there are enough materials,
• Prepare the “Deed of Gift” form for EVERY individual box of materials being transferred,
• If there are any artifacts (materials that are not paper-based such as trophies, banners, plaques, trophies, etc.) that you want to donate, contact that archive first before transferring them.

Hard Copy Records

Download the NDSU University Archives (Hard Copy) Transmittal Form

Once you have completed the form, please save it as a PDF and print one copy for your records and place the other copy on top of the folders in the 1^st box with the records being transferred. Please try to fill out the form with as much detail as possible. Once the records have been transferred to the University Archives, a unique number will be assigned to them and this number will be used to reference the records. A copy of the form, with its unique number, will be returned to you and this will serve as your confirmation of transfer to the NDSU Archives. After filling out the form, please contact the NDSU Archives (1-8914) for additional information on the actual records transfer.

• Use only 1 cubic foot boxes, no substitutions.
• If you are transferring more than 1 cubic foot box of material, please write (magic marker) the box number in the upper left corner of the box, below the lid: re: box 1 of 4, box 2 of 4, etc. Please make sure that the box numbers correspond to the box number and description on the transmittal form.
• It is important that the information you record on the transmittal form is accurate. It will be your inventory to the records if you need to retrieve material.
• Insert one copy of the transmittal form in the front of box number 1 of your shipment.

Electronic Records

Download the NDSU University Archives (Electronic) Transmittal Form

Please try to fill out the form with as much detail as possible. Once the records have been transferred to the University Archives, a unique number will be assigned to them and this number will be used to reference the records. A copy of the form, with its unique number, will be returned to you and this will serve as your confirmation of transfer to the NDSU Archives. After filling out the form, please contact NDSU Archives (1-8914) for additional information on the actual records transfer.

• Method of Transfer: Acceptable methods of transfer includes Google Drive Folder, Secure File Transfer, and flash drive. Email can also be used to transfer records, depending on the file size. If you prefer another method of transfer, contact archives staff.
• File names: Please list names of individual files, if possible. Multiple files with similar content can be entered once (for example, "minutes").
• Formats - Please note that the archives requires conversion to the following file formats before transfer:
  • Documents - Microsoft Word and Excel, PDF, Plain Text (.txt), Rich Text (.rtf)
  • Photographs - JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF
  • Audio Files - WAV, MP3
  • Video Files - MP4, Contact Archives staff with other formats
  • Other - Contact Archives staff
• Date range of files: Include the inclusive dates of the file(s).
• Volume of files: Indicate the volume of files (number of KB, MB, GB, TB, etc.).
• Number of files: Include the number of files described.