UC IRVINE ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES & PROCEDURES

A. Definition of Archives

The University Archives at UCI collects, preserves, administers, and provides access to selected inactive campus records that have enduring administrative, legal, historical or research value. The University Archives are located in Special Collections and Archives, Main Library, Room 525. For information about depositing and/or using records in the University Archives, call the University Archivist at (949) 824-7227.

The materials in the Archives document the history, policies, and procedures of the Irvine campus. Their retention, preservation, and accessibility are intended to support UCI's commitment to instruction, research, and public service. Many records designated as permanent and/or archival are unique (only one copy exists).

The University Archives does not collect all university records, but, rather, primarily those records documenting the university's decision-making process and the essential cultural history of the campus. Records are selected for permanent retention through evaluation of their long-term value of records. As a result, records are selected for retention that best document the functions of the university. Records remain in the custody of their office of origin until they are no longer actively needed for business purposes.

UCI-affiliated persons are the primary clientele of the University Archives. Typical uses and users of archival records include:

University administration
Faculty and student research
Curriculum development and instruction
Public relations and public information
University development
University publications
Exhibition programs

Access is also provided to alumni, non-UCI researchers, and the general public. Many records housed in the Archives are public records, and access to them is therefore governed by the California Public Records Act (CPRA).

B. Archival Materials

The following broad categories of records should be preserved in the UCI Archives:

1. Administrative Records

UC records managers and archivists work together to establish disposition schedules that identify records of enduring value for permanent retention, for transfer to archives, or for consideration for disposal; these schedules are found in the UC Records Disposition Schedules Manual. In addition, the Archives collects materials that have permanent historical value even though they are not officially designated for archives in the Records Disposition Schedules.

2. General Publications

Academic catalogs, handbooks, program announcements, directories, commencement and stage production programs, art exhibition catalogs, research publications, newsletters, miscellaneous brochures, posters, etc. The Archives also collects UCI press releases, newspaper clippings, and other publications about the campus.

3. Student Organizations (large and small)

Newsletters, correspondence, minutes, newspapers, yearbooks, literary journals, flyers, etc.

4. UCI Support Groups and Other Affiliated Groups

Records from groups such as Town and Gown, UCI Foundation, Friends of the Libraries, UCI Arboretum, etc.

5. UCI College of Medicine Historical Archives

The College of Medicine became affiliated with UCI in 1968. The University Archives holds materials from the College covering 1896 (when it was the Pacific College of Osteopathy and located in Anaheim) to the present.

6. UCI Dissertations and Theses

The University Archives retains an archival copy of each thesis and dissertation completed at UCI. The Archives deposits a second copy of each in the circulating collection.

7. Multimedia

Relevant materials in virtually any format are eligible for inclusion in UC archives, including: paper-based materials, audio recordings, microform, film, digital files, maps, photographs, and architectural drawings.