Aerial view of campus with Williamsport, the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Mountain as a backdrop

Collection Development Policies for the Lycoming College Archives

Mission

The mission of the Lycoming College archives is to collect, organize, describe, make available, and preserve records of historical, legal, fiscal, and /or administrative value to the institution. This includes providing adequate facilities for the retention and preservation of such records; promoting the use of the archives by the college community as staffing and resources allow; and serving as a resource and laboratory to stimulate and nourish creative teaching and learning.

Collection Development Statement

The purpose of the Lycoming College Archives is to collect inactive materials of many types that reflect upon our heritage through the history, development, and administration of Lycoming College, and to strengthen the educational mission of the College by preserving and making available for research various materials of a unique nature that relate to the history of the institution. A fundamental purpose of the collection is to engage students actively in original research while reaching a reasonable compromise between use and preservation.

Collected materials should illustrate the development and growth of the campus and record the activities of campus offices and committees. The collection includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Official college publications. Two copies will be retained
  • Records pertaining to campus buildings
  • Minutes, memoranda, correspondence and reports of the governing board of the campus when available
  • Records from administrative offices
  • Representative teaching materials
  • Accreditation reports
  • Records of student government and organizations
  • Minutes, memoranda, working papers and reports of major academic and administrative committees
  • Personal papers, student honor papers, papers of prominent alumni and faculty pertaining to the College
  • Oral histories of alumni, faculty, and administrators
  • Department subject files
  • Student club records, diaries, reunion books, and scrapbooks
  • Audio-visuals such as photographs, films, video recordings relating to the College
  • Memorabilia related to the history of the College if they are of significant importance and of manageable physical size and condition

Gifts

Relevant donations of materials to the Archives are welcome and are often the only means we have of restoring items to our collection. All gifts must be reviewed by the Associate Dean and Director of Library Services who will evaluate them for suitability, physical state, size of the collection, stipulations of the gift, research potential, exhibition value, and publicity value. The relationship of the donor to the College may also be an important factor when considering the acquisition of gifts.

Individuals offering a gift to the Archives will be asked to sign a document which passes unrestricted legal right and ownership over the donated materials to Lycoming College and its Archives Division. In compliance with federal regulations, all donors desiring a valued receipt for their gift must include documented proof of the monetary value of the donation based upon an appraisal conducted by a qualified disinterested third party; the cost for such appraisals will be borne by the donor. The decision for ultimate disposition of the gift will rest with the Associate Dean and Director of the Library. Donations become the sole property of the archives.

Deaccessions

Unwanted items within collections will be disposed of according to the donation agreement. Original acceptance does not commit the College to continued inclusion in the collection at a later date. The Associate Dean and Director of Library Services may deaccession materials according to these factors:

  • The relevance of the item to the archival mission and/or mission of the College
  • The material would be better placed in another repository because it would complement an existing collection elsewhere
  • The ability of the College to maintain and conserve the item in a responsible manner
  • The ability of the College to make the item available to interested researchers
  • The authenticity or uniqueness of the item
  • The manner in which the item was acquired by the College
  • The advanced deterioration of the item