The policy on reference and access is intended to foster open intellectual inquiry within the context of the law, government regulation, institutional policy, and the ethics of the health and archival professions. It observes several guiding principles:

• Respect for open intellectual inquiry
• Protection of rights to privacy, proprietary information, donor agreements and institutional policy
• Adherence to pertinent regulatory and legal codes
• Preservation and maintenance of archival materials

The Texas Open Records Act and federal privacy laws place restrictions on access to personnel and student records, but the majority of the official institutional records in the Archives are available for research upon completion of processing. Certain categories of documentation carry restrictions on access. These categories include, but are not limited to:

• Patient records
• Records of research subjects
• Proprietary documentation in the form of patents, technical licenses and other forms of intellectual property
• Records which might compromise the privacy of living, third-party individuals
• Personal papers and oral history interviews, which are subject to the donor’s deed of gift