Mercer Archives Collection Development Policy

A Deed of Gift is a formal and legal document signed by both the donor of the materials and a representative of Mercer’s Archives. This document is important because it sets out guidelines for the collection’s use, as well as provides proof of the collection’s provenance.

Mercer's Deed of Gift form includes these elements:

• Contact Information - The Donor provides contact information, including their name and physical address.
• Materials Donated - The Donor provides a title for the collection (e.g. The John and Jane Smith Papers) and a brief description of the materials donated. An additional page can be attached to the document, if needed.
• Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights - The Donor can choose to transfer all of the Donor's intellectual property in the materials (including copyright) to the library. If the Donor chooses to retain intellectual property and instead grant the library nonexclusive, perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license, the Donor must then provide contact information for researchers wishing to publish beyond Fair Use Rights.
• Disposition - The Donor can choose whether or not they wish to be contacted in the event that archives staff chooses to dispose of items from the donation.
• Personal Description Preferences - In this optional section, the Donor can provide information on how they wish archives staff to describe them.

To prevent archives staff from misrepresenting individuals when writing a description of materials for researcher use, Donors have the option in the Deed of Gift to self-describe themselves, including (but not limited to) their names/nicknames, pronouns, race, gender, sexuality, and religious identity. After the donation, Donors can still contact archives staff at any time to provide insight or corrections into the language used to describe their donated materials.