Guide to Archival Research

The Archives Document Delivery Service is a new pilot initiative designed to increase access to the University Archives' archival collections. The new service will allow Dalhousie students, faculty, and staff to request free digital copies of files and items found in the Archives Catalogue.

Consortia members and external researchers should continue to refer to the reproduction services and fee schedule document on the Archives website.

Digitization requests can be submitted online using a new "Archives Request" form available when you log into the Document Delivery Request Form:

Users should consult the Archives Catalogue to find files and items of interest.

When a request is received, Archives staff will work with Document Delivery staff to:

• Determine if the request can be fulfilled
• Prepare the file(s) for digitization
• Digitize the file according to the University Archives digitization standards
• Create a high-quality, fully-searchable (with some exceptions for illegible and/or handwritten text) PDF or high-resolution JPEG image
• Send users a link to download the file(s)

The service is very similar to the electronic delivery of journal articles requested through Document Delivery.  But it is limited to archival material held by the Dalhousie Libraries. Please note that the actual archival materials will not circulate. The service will provide digital copies.

The request form is customized to "match" the descriptive fields in the Archives Catalogue and Online Collections. Some elements are required to submit the request, but we encourage users to fill out as many fields as possible. This will help us to understand the nature of each request.

Staff in the University Archives can provide assistance searching the Archives Catalogue and completing the "Archives Request" form.

You can visit the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room on the 5th Floor of the Killam Memorial Library between 11:00 and 5:00, Monday-Friday.

You can also call the Reading Room at 902-494-3615 or email us at duasc@dal.ca.

We have detailed instructions on searching and browsing the Archives Catalogue. The Guide to Archival Research has more information.

Eligible Materials

• All private manuscript collections, including photographs
• Publicly available university records
• Certain university records may be made available to administrative staff

Ineligible Materials

• Materials that exceed the definition of "short excerpt" in the Dalhousie Fair Dealing Guidelines
• Materials with access and/or use restrictions imposed by the donor of the material
• Unprocessed private manuscript collections that have not been appraised
• Audiovisual materials
• Fragile material that cannot be digitized using existing equipment in the Libraries
• Bound manuscripts or other formats that cannot be digitized using existing equipment in the Libraries
• Files with more than 100 pages

There are a number of reasons why Libraries staff might have to cancel your digitization request:

• The file has access and/or use restrictions.
• The request exceeds the definition of "short excerpt" in the Dalhousie Fair Dealing Guidelines.
• The materials are too fragile to be scanned with existing equipment in the Libraries
• The file contains a mix of material (e.g., textual records and photographs) that cannot easily be compiled into a PDF
• The file contains audiovisual material and/or electronic records that cannot be scanned with existing equipment in the Libraries.
• Some or all textual materials are bound in a way that prevents suitable preservation scans from being created with existing equipment in the Libraries.

In some cases, Libraries staff may contact you to discuss the possibility of scanning a portion of the material or to clarify the nature of your request.

The Archives Document Delivery Service will use the existing document delivery time guidelines to measure the Libraries' ability to fulfill free archives digitization requests in a timely manner. Members of the Dalhousie community may be accustomed to receiving scanned journal articles within a day or two even though delivery can take 2-3 weeks. The digitization process we will be testing is more complicated and time consuming and we anticipate requests taking 1-2 weeks.

If you have a deadline for your material please either use the “Not Useful After” calendar available on the web request form or add a note in the Notes field. You can also email the staff at docdel@dal.ca and they can check where the item is coming from and give you an estimated time of arrival.

Urgent surcharge and same day service are not available.

Yes, please! This is a pilot initiative to assess the Libraries' capacity to digitize archival material as a free service for Dalhousie students, faculty, and staff. Digitizing archival material can be time-consuming and complex, so we anticipate a few bumps as we launch this new service. Please provide feedback on your experience using this service by emailing duasc@dal.ca.