Conditions of use and guidelines for the Charles Bean Research Centre

What may be brought into the Research Centre

All bags must be presented for checking by Memorial Security at the entrance to the Research Centre.

You may only take your devices, notes and pencils to your desk.

All other items, including pens, bags, water and food items should be placed in the lockers provided.

Retrieval

Requests for items to be retrieved must be submitted by completing a Request items form.

We require two weeks’ notice to facilitate the retrieval of collection items. You will be notified once items are retrieved. Retrieved items will be held for two weeks.

There may be delays or restrictions on items requiring examination, conservation, or stored offsite, or affected by development works. Staff will notify you if your request is affected.

Items will be held for collection at the Collection Delivery Window. Please return items to staff at the window.

You will be issued either:

one wallet of private records,
one file of unbound official records,
five files of bound official records.

Handling of material

To protect the collection and yourself when handling items, gloves must be worn and will be provided as:

oils and acids are produced by your skin all the time. Handling items without gloves will transfer these harmful substances to the original records.
archival material may have been stored in a range of places. Sometimes it contains dirt, mould, animal droppings and residue from previous preservation treatments that may affect your health.
Always dispose of worn gloves in the recycle box provided.

We ask that you take great care with items. Do not:

use archival material as a support for your note-taking paper
use pens
wet your fingers to turn pages
remove pages or disturb the original order of the pages
interfere with archival material or any sealed packages contained in them
leave archival material unattended on your desk
eat or drink in the Research Centre, water bubblers are located near the lockers for refreshment
remove any collection item from the Research Centre

Quietness

In consideration for other readers, turn your mobile phone to silent and refrain from conversation in the reading room. Calls may be taken in the lounge area but please be aware of the volume of your voice.