Kia ora koutou
Does anyone have a policy on collecting research papers and data? Particularly within a Univesity environment?
We seem to be fielding more enquiries from researchers and academics who want a safe place to put their research and records so that it can be made available to other researchers in the future. At the moment this is primarily paper or photographic data but I expect it may become more digital in the future.
By way of context the Hocken Collections is a collecting institution within the University of Otago in Dunedin, NZ. We have extensive archival collections from a wide variety of individuals and organisations. Our collection development policy includes responsibility for University archives and the papers of prominent researchers and academics associated with the University.
For example, one of the latest offers is a set of 1000s of 35mm colour slides documenting dental treatments in patients treated at the University's School of Dentistry c.1980-2000. The academic making the offer has believes that they will be useful for researchers of dental history.
Another recent offer is a small set of histological slides that relate to opthalmology cases treated in Cairo, Egypt by a person who later became Professor of Ophthalmology here at Otago. We already have some papers relating to these cases.
A third is interview transcripts from a research project being carried out on the experiences of Pacific Island migrants to NZ.
Nga mihi
Anna Blackman
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