The Aalto University Archives is responsible for the long-term preservation of archival material. Our task is to ensure the usability and preservation of the materials and to provide information services related to them.

By law, the Aalto University Archives is responsible for the long-term or permanent preservation of information, records, and other diverse materials produced during the university’s activities. Archiving covers both the university’s analog and digital materials.

A key task of archiving is to ensure the reliable preservation of materials for use by future generations. For analog materials, preservation is ensured, among other things, through protective materials intended for long-term archiving and appropriate archival facilities. For digital materials, archiving requires lifecycle-based information governance from the point of creation (e.g., Aalto University’s records management plan and other guidelines governing preservation) as well as the maintenance of a reliable system designed for electronic archiving.

Archiving is also the organization of information. In archiving, information is arranged in accordance with the principle of provenance, taking its context of creation into account. Materials with fixed retention periods are appraised, and materials to be preserved for the long term or permanently are arranged and described appropriately to facilitate information services and use. The Archives maintains catalogs of its collections to ensure their usability.

The Aalto University Archives accepts only materials related to the university’s activities. This also includes private and personal archives closely connected to the university’s operations.

Whenever materials are handed over, usage rights are always agreed upon. The archive’s primary task is to ensure that the collections can be used as openly as possible for teaching, research, and other purposes. Analog materials have their own intake processes, including defining usage rights in a deposit agreement for the materials.