Terms of use

The KIT Archives uses itsTerms of Use as a basis for users. These can be downloaded here as a PDF document or they can be viewed below.

 

The following Terms of Use apply to documents from the University Department of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Mentions of the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) in the regulations for use are to be referred to the University Department of KIT. The use of documents from the KIT's Research Center is subject to the relevant sections of the State Archives Act of Baden-Württemberg until the entry into force of a user regulation applicable to the entire KIT archives.

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According to § 7 para. 2 of the University Act and § 8 para. 2 of the State Archives Act, the Senate of the University of Karlsruhe passed the following regulations for the use of the University Archives on 11.11.2002.

 

§ 1 Tasks

The archive of the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) serves as a public archive for research, teaching and studies at the university and, in addition, for other scientific work and factual information. It makes the archival material of the University generally available for use.

 

§ 2 Admission to use the archives

In accordance with these regulations, use is possible for anyone who can substantiate a legitimate interest, in particular a legal, scientific or homeland and family history interest. He/she has the right to use the archival material after the expiry of the retention periods, unless otherwise provided for by legal provisions or agreements with current or former owners.

 

§ Section 3 Nature of use

(1) Archival records are generally used by consulting the archives.

(2) The University Archives may also facilitate use by answering written or oral inquiries, by submitting or making reproductions, by sending or lending archival materials.

(3) The reply to enquiries shall in principle be limited to information on the type, extent and condition of relevant archival material.

(4) The provisions for the use of archival records shall apply accordingly to the use of finding aids, other aids and reproductions.

 

§ 4 Request for use

(1) Applications for use shall be submitted in writing to the university archives. It shall contain details of the applicant and, if applicable, the person commissioning the use of the archives, the intended use and purpose of use, and whether and how the results are to be published. In the case of scientific use, the type of scientific work and, if applicable, the university and the name of the supervising university teacher must be stated.

(2) A separate application shall be submitted for each research topic.

(3) If the user wishes to use other persons as assistants or agents for his work, a special request must be made by each of these persons.

(4) The user must identify himself upon request.

 

§ 5 Permission of use

(1) The person entrusted with the management of the university archives shall decide on the application for use.

(2) Permission of use may be subject to ancillary provisions within the meaning of Section 36 of the State Administrative Procedure Act and shall be limited to one year.

 

§ 6 Restrictions of use

(1) According to § 6 para. 6 sentence 1 of the State Archives Act, use shall be restricted or denied if

  1. there is reason to believe that the welfare of the Federal Republic of Germany or one of its countries would be endangered, or
  2. there is reason to believe that the interests of third parties worthy of protection conflict with this, or
  3. the conservation status of the archival material would be endangered, or
  4. an unjustifiable administrative burden would be incurred; or
  5. agreements with current or former owners are contrary to this.

(2) The university archives may also restrict or deny use for other important reasons, in particular if

  1. the user has repeatedly or seriously violated the regulations for use or has not complied with the conditions imposed on him/her,
  2. the state of order of the archival material does not permit its use,
  3. archive records are not available for official reasons or because of simultaneous use for other purposes,
  4. the purpose of use can be sufficiently achieved otherwise, in particular by consulting printed works or reproductions.

(3) The user shall be obliged to provide the University Archives with a free specimen copy of a printed work within the meaning of section 2(1) of the Law on Compulsory Copies, which he or she has written or produced using archival material from the University Archives, without being requested to do so after publication of the printed work. If the user cannot reasonably be expected to provide a voucher copy free of charge, in particular because of the low circulation or the high cost of the printed work, he/she may either provide the University Archives with a copy of the printed work for an appropriate period of time for the purpose of making a reproduction or demand compensation up to half the retail price. If a shop price does not exist, the user may demand compensation up to the amount of half the production costs of the voucher copy. Sentences 1 to 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to publications of the user in collective works or magazines as well as to written works which have not been published. Without the consent of the user, unpublished written works may only be used by the University Archives for indexing archival material; other persons may not be granted access to unpublished written works. Sentence 5 shall not apply if the copyright has expired.

 

§ 7 Withdrawal and revocation of permission to use

The University Archives may withdraw or revoke permission to use the archives in accordance with sections 40 and 49 of the State Administrative Procedure Act, in particular if

  1. information in the application for use which is essential for the authorisation of use is not or is no longer applicable,
  2. subsequent grounds which would have led to refusal of use become known,
  3. the user repeatedly and seriously infringes the regulations for use or fails to comply with the conditions of use imposed on him/her.
  4. the user violates copyrights and personal rights as well as the interests of third parties worthy of protection.

 

§ 8 Vesting periods

(1) Pursuant to § 6 (2-5) of the State Archives Act, the following retention periods shall apply to documents which were not intended for publication or accessible to the public at the time of their creation:

  1. Archival material may not be used before thirty years have elapsed since the documents were created.
  2. If archival materials are subject to legal provisions on secrecy, they may be used at the earliest sixty years after the documents were created.
  3. If the purpose of the archival documents relates to a natural person, they may be used at the earliest ten years after that person's death, without prejudice to the time limits laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2. If the date of death cannot be determined or can only be determined with unjustifiable effort, the retention period shall end ninety years after birth.
  4. The rectorate may extend retention periods by a maximum of twenty years if this is in the public interest or if the interests of the person concerned warrant such extension.

(2) Pursuant to Section 6(4) of the State Archives Act, the following provisions shall apply to a shortening of the retention periods: The rectorate may shorten retention periods if there are no objections to the interests of the person concerned that are worthy of protection. A shortening of the retention period pursuant to paragraph 1, item 3 is only permissible if

  1. the person to whom the archival material relates or, in the event of his or her death, the spouse, children or parents have consented, or if
  2. the use for scientific purposes or for the pursuit of legitimate interests, which are in the overriding interest of another person or body, is indispensable and the interests of the person concerned worthy of protection are adequately taken into account by anonymisation or other measures.

In the case of use for scientific purposes, anonymisation may be waived if the scientific interest in disclosure substantially outweighs the legitimate concerns of the data subject due to the importance of the research project and the research project could not otherwise be carried out.

(3) Requests to shorten the retention periods shall be submitted in writing to the university archives. The rectorate shall decide on the application. In addition to the information referred to in section 4(1), the applicant shall submit to the application for the use of documents which, by virtue of their intended purpose, relate to a natural person, either

  1. enclose the written declaration of the person concerned or his relatives within the meaning of paragraph 2, or
  2. to give detailed reasons in the application as to why a reduction of the vesting period is indispensable.

(4) If the anonymization of personal data is to be dispensed with in the case of use for scientific purposes, the applicant shall also justify why, due to the importance of the research project, the scientific interest in disclosure substantially outweighs the legitimate interests of the person concerned and why the research project cannot otherwise be carried out. The applicant shall explain by which measures the data subject's interests worthy of protection are adequately taken into account in the publication of the research results.

(5) At the request of the university archives, the application for the shortening of the retention period shall be accompanied by additional information and documents, and in the case of university work, in particular by statements by academic teaching staff.

 

§ 9 Use in the archives

(1) The order forms of the university archives shall be used to order archive records. The signature of the archival records shall be determined by the person using them. Incomplete and unclear orders cannot usually be completed. The University Archives can set ordering times.

(2) As a matter of principle, the archival material shall only be presented for use under supervision in the rooms designated for this purpose during the opening hours specified by posting.

(3) Archive records and aids may only be evaluated for the stated purpose of use and may only be viewed by the person using them who has received permission to use them.

(4) There is no right to receive archival records in a certain time or order. As a matter of principle, only a limited number of archival records are presented at the same time. There is no entitlement to assistance in reading the archival records.

(5) The submitted archival documents, reproductions as well as repertories and other aids are to be handled with the utmost care. In particular it is not permitted,

  1. change the order of the archival material,
  2. to remove elements of the archive material such as sheets, slips of paper, envelopes, seals, stamp impressions, stamps, etc,
  3. to add or delete notes in the archive records,
  4. to use archival records as writing and transcribing documents.

(6) The use of technical equipment requires approval.

(7) The user is liable for all damage to archival records and aids culpably caused by himself or his assistants.

(8) Insofar as use takes place in the reading rooms or in special workrooms of the university library, the library's regulations for use and the provisions issued for their implementation shall also apply.

 

§ 10 Reproductions of archival material

(1) The person using the archives may not make reproductions himself.

(2) For ordering reproductions, the forms provided must be used. There shall be no claim to the production of reproductions. They shall only be produced to the extent that any endangerment or damage to the archive material can be excluded.

(3) Reproductions of any kind may only be made by the university archives themselves or by a body appointed by them. The university archives shall decide on the appropriate production methods. It may require that the reproductions be made under its supervision and may charge the person or body commissioning the work for the costs incurred.

(4) Reproductions may only be passed on to third parties, copied or published with the consent of the university archive. In doing so, the origin of the reproduction shall be pointed out and the signature shall be indicated. Where copyright exists, the consent of the authorised person shall also be required.

 

§ 11 Dispatch of the archive material

(1) The sending of archive records is only permitted in justified exceptional cases for use in foreign archives administered by full-time staff in the Federal Republic of Germany.

(2) The person or institution making the application must obtain a written declaration from the external archives in which the archives undertake to comply,

  1. to present the archival documents in the offices under permanent supervision only to the applicant person or a person authorised by the applicant body,
  2. to store them in a theft- and fire-proof manner,
  3. not to make copies or reproductions without the permission of the University Archives, and
  4. to return the archival material after expiry of the set period, which should not exceed two months, and in special cases, after request by the University Archives, before expiry of the set period.

(3) The shipping costs shall be borne by the person or entity using the service.

(4) Finding aids and archival material which

  1. is subject to restrictions on use,
  2. is not suitable for mailing due to its high value, its order and preservation status, its format, or for other conservation or security reasons,
  3. is frequently used,
  4. is not yet finalised

 

§ 12 Lending of archive material for exhibition purposes

(1) Lending of archive materials for exhibition purposes is only permitted if it is ensured that they are effectively protected against loss, damage and unauthorised use and that the exhibition purpose cannot be achieved by reproductions.

(2) The university archives shall ensure the security and preservation of borrowed archival materials by imposing conditions.

(3) A contract of loan shall be concluded between the university archives and the borrowing person or institution. The University Archives reserve the right to reclaim the object of the contract at any time. The contracting party shall be informed of this in writing before the loan contract is concluded.

(4) The production of reproductions of exhibited archive material by third parties requires the consent of the University Archives.

 

§ 13 Use of foreign archival material

The University Archives may also permit the use of archival materials sent by other archives or other bodies for use by third parties. Unless otherwise provided by the sending agency, the provisions of these Regulations for Use shall apply accordingly.

 

§ 14 Use by supplying agencies

The provisions of these regulations shall not apply to the official use of archival records by those university departments which have created or handed over the records. The type and manner of use shall be agreed upon in individual cases. It must be ensured that the archival materials are protected against loss, damage and unauthorized use and are returned within a reasonable period of time.

 

§ 15 Fees

The use of the University Archive by members of the University is free of charge. In the case of use by other persons, the University Archives shall charge fees for the services it provides in accordance with the applicable regulation of the Ministry of Science and Art on the fees of the State Archives.

 

§ Article 16 Entry into force

These Regulations for Use shall enter into force on the day following their publication in the Official Notices of the Universität Karlsruhe (TH).

The regulations for the use of the archives of the University Fridericiana Karlsruhe from 30.08.1990 (published in: Amtliche Bekanntmachungen der Universität Karlsruhe (TH) vom 02.10.1990, Nr. 11) expires on the same day.

Karlsruhe, the 15.11.2002

signed. Professor Dr. sc. tech. Horst Hippler