The mission of the University Archives is to collect, arrange, describe, preserve and make accessible Global Campus records of permanent, historical, and administrative value and to disseminate information about the holdings of the Archives through research, campus publications, exhibits, and online resources. The ultimate goal of the Archives is to create a permanent, living record of the historical heritage of the University's unique role in the development and evolution of continuing and adult education.
All documents created or used in the course of Global Campus business are institutional records, and as such are the property of Global Campus .
NOTE: The Archives will NOT house financial, student, or faculty records. Disposition and relocation of these records will be determined by the records retention schedules established by the University of Maryland System in conjunction with the Global Campus records manager .
The collection development guidelines state the principles and guidelines that the UMGC Archives follow in the selection, acquisition and preservation of archival materials.
The UMGC Archives Mission states that the Archives collects “Global Campus records of permanent, historical, and administrative value” -- to further clarify this includes, but is not limited to:
The University of Maryland Global Campus Archives is committed to ensuring the preservation and long-lasting availability of its research collections and resources in all formats. Preservation is accomplished through a variety of collection- and item-level approaches and strategies. Actions are taken to prevent or slow down the deterioration of archival materials, improve their condition, or provide access through reformatting to preserve intellectual content and to protect fragile originals. Proper storage environment and housing, careful handling, and treatment of individual items (conservation) are methods used to protect and improve conditions to extend the useful life of materials in original form. Digitization of materials at risk can prevent further damage from use and ensure that unique content in obsolete formats is not lost.
Maintaining the quality and usefulness of the collections is a central goal and responsibility of the Archives. Associated with that responsibility is decision-making regarding which materials are accurate, and relevant, and which should be deselected. If so desired, such materials as specified will be returned to the Donor.
Donations to the collection of the UMGC Archives constitute an important and ongoing source of materials that support the teaching programs and history of the University. The donation of the kinds of resources described above, and in many formats, have served as the foundation of some of our collections. In other instances, these donations have significantly enhanced already established collections.
We provide the following general guidelines for individuals interested in donating materials to the UMGC Archives. We reserve the right to accept or decline materials based on these and other criteria that serve the best interests of the archives.
Every effort is made to accept only items appropriate to be added to the collections. Items not added may be discarded at the discretion of the University Libraries.
Prospective donors should provide a list of items available in advance. Ongoing space constraints typically do not permit us to keep whole donated collections intact.
Desirable Donations
Out of Scope and Unacceptable Donations
As a result of the ever-increasing costs associated with the short-term and long-term storage of donations and the associated resources required to sort, review, process, preserve, and maintain materials, the Archives cannot accept all donations. The following represent categories of materials that fall outside the collecting scope of the UMGC Archives:
The University of Maryland Global Campus is authorized to display any donated materials in non-profit exhibitions both on and off campus. Materials may also be used to illustrate exhibition catalogs and University publications.
By donating, you are affirming that you are the sole owner of these materials and are donating physical and/or digital ownership of them to the University of Maryland Global Campus, which shall occur upon delivery to the University’s authorized representative. However, the donor, their heirs, and their estate shall retain title to such literary property rights (copyright) as they may possess.
Once a donation is accepted, it becomes the property of the University of Maryland Global Campus.
The UMGC Archives strives to create an archive that is inclusive and respectful. We understand that our collections can contain descriptions using outdated language that some members of our community might find offensive or harmful.
Whenever possible the UMGC Archives will strive to address concerns over the language used in our Archival descriptions. Please understand that some items in our collections will have offensive/harmful terms embedded in them (such as in photographs/awards/medals/etc.) without a way to remove them. In addition, the UMGC Archives incorporates controlled vocabularies and thesauri from outside sources, including the Library of Congress Subject Headings. These sources are a powerful way to aid in searching and discoverability across many platforms. Unfortunately, UMGC has no control over these sources and many of them are slow to change – leaving problematic words in use long after they have been identified.
The UMGC Archives will decide on a case-by-case basis the need to change/remove these problematic subjects vs. damage to the original item. We are willing to work with the impacted community to find a solution that is beneficial to all involved.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns or if you identify harmful language within our collections please reach out to university-archives@umgc.edu