n.the ability to get to archival resources through intellectual, digital, or physical meansWilliams 2006, 117Access encompasses the political, legislative, cultural and social climate in which records and archives are (or are not) made available to people across the world as well as the practical and intellectual means by which access may be delivered.Kata 2010, 120Web publication has tremendous advantages for access purposes. Electronic search engines enable users to identify materials relating to their interest with relative ease.DeRidder, Presnell, and Walker 2012, 145One method of providing this context is to offer access to digitized content via the archival finding aid.Hackbart-Dean and Slomba 2012, 67The goal of archival description is to provide access to archival collections by documenting their context, structure, and content.Purcell 2015, xxivProviding greater access to original, unique, or rare materials is a central tenet of libraries and archives. In addition to the creation of finding aids, inventories, or indices for processed collections, many archives provide online access to at least portions of their original material.Meissner 2019, 39The purpose of description is to facilitate access to and use of the collection. It needs to help users understand the nature of the records, the context in which they were created and administered, the informational content of the records, their physical location, and how to gain access to them.Oestreicher 2020, 1–2Access is the ability to use resources to find information, and reference is how archivists facilitate that ability.the consultation of archival resources within institutional or legal parametersHoff-Wilson 1983, 445At the same time, it became more and more difficult for historians to justify privileged access because documentation about socioeconomic and political movements, often involving powerless groups, was found increasingly in public records rather than private manuscript collections requiring special permission for access. Thus, access, first to private and then to public sources of information, has been an enduring hallmark of historians over time; but the relationship of access to privacy has become more problematic as the interests and members of the historical profession have become more heterogeneous.Geselbracht 1986, 146The donor, according to the access policy that evolved within the historical manuscripts tradition, possessed important rights of proprietorship that had to be recognized even after his manuscript collection was given to an archival repository. The papers being donated were, after all, personal . . . To preserve the donor’s right of proprietorship, archival institutions within the historical manuscripts tradition entered into a covenant with the donor: in return for the donor’s transfer of ownership of his papers, the archival repository would agree to certain restrictions on access to the papers. Once such a covenant was made and the conditions of access fixed, no further discussion of these conditions—whether between donor and repository, repository and researcher, or researcher and donor—was anticipated.Schellenberg 1996, 225In evolving policies for the regulation of access to public records that will be found reasonable by both government officials and the public it is necessary to devise procedures for defining and enforcing restrictions on their use.PNAAM 2007Seek active consultations with authorized Native American community representatives to review culturally affiliated collections in order to determine whether problems of original collection and ownership should lead to access and use restrictions being placed on some materials, whether some collections should be repatriated, (returned) or whether some materials should be available for access only with prior community review and approval.Jimerson 2009, 333Archivists assume a professional responsibility to ensure access to public records. Legitimate personal privacy and confidentiality considerations place some limitations on what—and when—information can be released to the public, but in the United States the presumption favors accessibility.Meissner 2019, 104The purpose of this [DACS] element is to clearly state the conditions under which users may gain access to materials in the collection and, specifically, whether any or all of the materials are restricted.v.to get to archival resources through intellectual, digital, or physical meansBrooks 1969, 43At the same time, one who uses papers in a repository should be given access to some kind of finding aids so that he can judge for himself what groups or series might be useful to him.NSLA 2001Access – to intercept, instruct, communicate with, store data in, retrieve from or otherwise make use of any resources of a computer, network or data.Hughes 2004, 10Whatever the audience, their access to the materials is enhanced by the advantages of the digital format. With the application of the right technological tools, and careful attention to the design of the user interface, it is possible to search, browse and compare materials in useful and creative ways.Lavoie 2014, 13As its name suggests, the Access function manages the processes and services by which Consumers—and especially the Designated Community—locate, request, and receive delivery of items residing in the OAIS’s archival store.Force 2022, 48Corporate archives work to meet the business needs of their parent companies, whose employees often request a quick answer to a question. They may allow varying degrees of public access, but you rarely find visiting hours, finding aids, or public databases. Instead, archivists research and share findings and provide remote access to digital materials.to consult archival resources within institutional or legal parametersJordan 1968, 62Another institution permits a visitor to examine only one box at a time of personal papers. The great disadvantage of this rule, of course, is that it cripples survey, making it impossible to compare or contrast themes that develop during examination. I feel, unless there is good reason for restriction, that it is not unreasonable to request access to three boxes at a time, so that the researcher may bird-dog through them.ARL 1979, 36Before gaining access to materials in the Special Collections Department, a researcher must read the Rules for Use of the Special Collections Department and indicate understanding and amenability to them by signing the Departmental Register.Baumann 1986, 351For the purpose of this study, access is defined as the authority/right of a researcher (outside of government creators/receivers) to obtain information from or to do research in archival materials in the custody of an archives.Benedict 1988, 180–181Access to records and papers, today, more so than in 1955, involves the most ethically complex issues which archivists in the United States face because they must thread their way through freedom of information and privacy legislation which governs the individual’s right to access to information and laws which equally protest the right to privacy.Burke 1997, 58Much of this may be irrelevant in a discussion of access to manuscript material, except that access implies intent to use, and in many cases the intention is to quote from or publish a document or a group of documents in full.Meissner 2019, 104In some cases, access is not constrained by legal requirements, but by the physical nature of the materials themselves. Such conditions might include their location, which could delay access to the materials because of retrieval issues.SAA 2020bAccess and Use: Access to records is essential in all personal, community, academic, business, and government settings. Archivists should promote and provide the widest possible accessibility of materials, while respecting legal and ethical access restrictions including public statutes, cultural protections, donor contracts, and privacy requirements. While access may be justifiably limited in some instances, archivists still seek to foster open access and unrestricted use as broadly as possible when appropriate.Joffrion and Cloonan 2020, 158Simultaneously, demand has increased for digital content that can be accessed by people who may never set foot in an archives, library, or museum—but who want to access resources from wherever they are.Weideman and Caldera 2019, 158What exactly do archivists mean by “access”? Used primarily as a noun, but increasingly also as a verb, the term “access” was originally used principally to connote the ability to enter a physical structure. In the archival context, it means entering the archives and using its files and holdings. Such use implies both permission and the availability of tools to find relevant documents.
