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Access Policy for the Public Policy Papers

The majority of the Public Policy collections are open for research use.

A small number of collections, or portions of collections, remain closed for limited times as per donors’ wishes or in order to comply with federal law. To determine if the collection you are interested in is open, please consult the access restrictions note in the collection's finding aid. If there are no restrictions, the access restrictions note will read "Collection is open for research use."

Researchers may come across sensitive information in collections and through registering for their Special Collections Research Account (Aeon), agree to alert staff about the existence of these materials. Sensitive documents include, but are not limited to confidential, FERPA, HIPAA, or potentially classified government materials.

The following collections have specific restrictions that require researchers to sign an agreement form prior to accessing materials in order to ensure that the researcher will alert staff about the existence of possible confidential information:

  • The American Civil Liberties Union records (ACLU, MC001) have a complicated set of restrictions. These restrictions and the access policy for the records can be found on the ACLU LibGuide. Researchers wishing to access materials from the ACLU Records, whether in person or remotely, are required to fill out the ACLU User Agreement Form in advance of viewing and using materials from the collection.

  • Council on Foreign Relations records (MC104): Researchers wishing to access materials from the CFR records, whether in person or remotely, are required to fill out the CFR User Agreement Form in advance of viewing and using materials from the collection.