Registration and Security Procedures
Researchers using the Iowa Women’s Archives are expected to complete a researcher registration form before using the collections. A signature on the form indicates that the researcher understands and agrees to follow the reading room regulations. Only pencils and notepaper may be brought into the reading room. Tape recorders and personal computers are permitted if their use does not disturb others. Personal belongings such as coats, handbags, reference files, and briefcases must be checked into lockers. Researchers must sign the guest register upon arrival each time they visit the archives. Eating and drinking are NOT permitted in the reading room.
Use of Materials
Call slips must be filled out completely with the researcher name, current date, name of the collection(s) and boxes requested. Researchers are allowed one box on their table at a time and should remove only one folder at a time from the box, using a card to mark the folder’s place in the box. This ensures that materials remain properly filed for the next user. The order of items within each folder is to be maintained as it was found. If items or folders seem to be disarranged, the staff should be alerted. Materials should be handled with extreme care. We ask that researchers not fold, write on, lean on, or otherwise handle the documents in ways likely to damage them. No historical materials may be removed from the reading room without permission from the staff. Theft or mutilation of historical materials is forbidden by law and punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both. When a researcher has finished for the day, a staff member in the archives should be notified. Materials are usually left on the table for a staff member to reshelve.