Southern Maryland Studies Center

Regulations Regarding Use of Materials

You are responsible for helping to safeguard the condition of materials housed in the Southern Maryland Studies Center (hereinafter referred to as SMSC).   Please read the following regulations carefully.  By signing the Customer Registration Form, you are agreeing to abide by the Regulations Regarding Use of Materials.  Customers who wish to access the materials contained in the Archive must fill out the Customer Registration Form* before requesting materials.

Handling collection materials from the Archive:

	Follow all directions from staff regarding handling of materials.
	Customers wishing to use documents must request assistance from staff. Documents must only be used in the SMSC Reading Room. Access to some documents may be limited because of the nature of their content, physical condition, or other restrictions.
	The table surface must be cleared of personal belongings (coats, jackets, bags, purses, backpacks, umbrellas, etc.).
	Pens and highlighters are not allowed, nor are pressure sensitive notes, such as Post Its. Accidental ink stains will permanently & irreversibly damage materials. Use pencil only when consulting materials.
	Exercise the greatest possible care when handling fragile materials. Handle materials gently. Do not write on, lean on, trace over, fold, prop open or make marks of any kind on materials. Do not rest books or other objects on top of materials. Avoid touching the surface of materials. Handle loose sheets or bound pages by their edges.
	When working with still, motion picture records, or other fragile materials, you must wear white gloves, provided by staff, to protect records.
	Customers may access one box of materials at a time. You may remove & open only one folder from a box at a time. When you remove a folder from a box place an out-card (provided by staff) in the box to mark the folders location.
	Materials must be kept in the same order in which they are given to you. If folders in a box or pages in a folder appear to be out of order, do not rearrange the materials yourself. Alert staff instead.
	Materials must stay flat on the table at all times.
	Use of scanners, cameras, and/or any type of audio and/or visual recording equipment or device is not allowed.
	Oral history tapes can only be used in the SMSC Reading Room. Customers may listen to one interview at a time.  Students, faculty, and staff may be able to place oral histories on reserve.  Please contact SMSC staff for more information
	Notify the attendant when you are finished examining materials. All materials from the Archive must be returned to the attendant before the next box, folder or oral history interview in a collection is provided.
	The SMSC reserves the right to inspect all personal belongings before customer leaves the Reading Room.

Copying Materials: 

	Photocopies of materials from the Reading Room may be made by the customer at the coin operated copier in the main library (Room LR210). Return books to carts in the SMSC Reading Room. Change may be obtained from the Service Desk in the main library.
	Requests for photocopies of the Archive collection materials must be submitted to the attendant and will be approved on a case by case basis. Photocopy requests will be completed in the order they are received. Those requests not completed by the end of the day may be picked up by the customer at a later date or mailed if requested (customer will be charged postage). The SMSC reserves the right to refuse to reproduce any material. Photocopying of collections materials will be performed by a staff member at a charge of .25 cents per page.
	The SMSC will inform customers of any restrictions, that is, restriction on use stipulated by the donor when a collection was transferred to the SMSC or restrictions placed on a collection by the SMSC. Agreements between the SMSC and a donor about use of a collection are separate from legal rights of copyright, publicity, and privacy.
	The customer is responsible for determining and abiding by the copyright status of any materials obtained from the SMSC. Any request for permission to publish manuscript, photographic, audio/visual, or other materials from the SMSC collections must be submitted in writing to the Coordinator. In granting permission to publish, the SMSC does not surrender its own right to publish the same material or to grant permission to others to do so. Nor does this authorization by the SMSC remove the author's & publisher's responsibility to guard against infringement of rights that may be held by others.
	The customer is also responsible for properly citing the SMSC; College of Southern Maryland and the individual collections consulted when publishing results obtained through the use of the SMSC's materials.  The proper citation is: Title, Southern Maryland Studies Center, College of Southern Maryland, Name of Collection.