Preserve Your Research

The Archives and Institutional Assets Program (AIAP), based in the Archives and Special Collections department, works with UC Davis faculty, staff, and researchers to curate and preserve their legacies, ensuring that their most important and influential works remain accessible over the long term.

• Preserves university records of enduring historical and research value
• Stewards UC Davis researcher assets, especially working papers, lab notebooks, correspondence, manuscripts, committee documents, blogs, visual materials, and media
• Provides seamless integration of print and born digital/digitized assets to enhance discovery and illustrate impact
• Provides access your assets to interested researchers through Archives and Special Collections, where they are made available as manuscript collections

AIAP will work with faculty, researchers, and staff—including emeriti and retired academic staff—to identify content in any format that best fits the profile for transfer to the archives. Collectively, this material provides a rich resource of university history in addition to documenting and highlighting the careers of individuals.

The AIAP collaborates across the library with Research Data Services on Data Management inquiries, DataLab on questions related to data science and visualization, the Scholarly Communications Program and others.

What Do We Collect?

Archives and Institutional Assets Program collects content created by UC Davis constituents in the course of research, teaching, patient care, and community/university/professional service. 

All of the following types of content (physical and digital formats) are potential candidates for transfer to the archive:

Faculty, Researchers and Staff

• Correspondence, including paper and electronic mail
• Grant proposals and reports
• Lab notebooks, field notes, and other research notes
• Research datasets, transcripts, or related (see also Data Analysis and Management)
• Drafts of significant publications
• Speeches and lectures
• Significant items used in teaching, such as visual aids or important slide sets
• Course syllabi
• Administrative records of department chairs
• Records of committees for which the faculty member chaired or played a major role
• Policy documents
• Significant records of local, state, national, or international service or activity
• Images (photographs, slides, negatives, digital files)
• Moving image or audio recordings and other media (usually non-commercial)
• Websites or blogs that the faculty member administers
• Other biographical materials, including scrapbooks

Content must be devoid of sensitive information that would prevent the item form being accessed on legal or ethical grounds.

Graduate, Professional and Post-doctoral Students

The UC Davis Library keeps a print or digital copy of every UC Davis thesis and dissertation for purposes of preservation and on-site library access (while honoring any access restrictions imposed by the author). AIAP is also interested in:

• Key research materials
• Supplemental materials
• Supporting evidence

Materials Generally Not Collected

• Patient files
• Student records
• Reprints
• Duplicative or redundant materials
• Artifacts, objects, plaques
• Books, journals and other published materials (please contact Collection Strategies)

Preserving University Department and Unit Records

We welcome historical archives and records from the administrative offices, campus organizations, and student groups that document the university’s history, development, decision-making process, and campus culture.