House Rules City Archives

Checkroom and visitor registration

You must leave your coat and bags in the checkroom.

If you are at the Archives for the first time this year, please fill out a visitor's card with your name, address, place of residence and purpose of your research. Next time, just give your name to one of the staff members.

During your visit(s), please obey the instructions of the City Archives staff.

You may not smoke in the City Archives.

Archival research requires concentration and a quiet environment. Disturb other visitors as little as possible: speak in a soft tone (including in the coffee corner). Your cell phone should be turned off.

In special cases, the municipal archivist may decide to close a reading room or limit services during opening hours.

In case of fire, other emergencies or evacuation drills, as a visitor, you must listen to the instructions of Emergency Response staff.

Research and inspection

You may request documents by mail or telephone; incomplete or incorrect requests will not be considered.

When you research in the City Archives, a number of resources are available to you, including archival inventories, indexes, periodicals and literature. These are located at the entrance to the reading room on your right. Photographs, books, periodicals and brochures are not on loan.

Microfiches are available of many archive documents. This applies in particular to the civil status records and the population registers. Microfiche readers are available for consultation. You should handle the reading equipment with care. You can lift and replace the microfiche on your own. At the place where you remove a microfiche, you should place a card. These can be found on the tables in the reading room. To prevent loss, please consult only one microfiche at a time. If you would like a copy of any documents you have consulted - whether or not on microfiche - please contact a member of staff.

The town archivist may exempt records from copying for management reasons. To view the extensive collections of photographs, maps and books, please contact a staff member.

The provision of copies of documents is subject to the applicable Fees Ordinance. The fees can be requested from a staff member.

No copies will be provided from tapes for conservation reasons.

You are permitted to produce photographs and records in self-service, provided you meet the following conditions:

• You make the reproductions solely for your own practice, study or use (if not: please consult with a staff member about copyright).
• You will not use a flashlight, hand scanner or reading pen, as this may compromise the good condition of the pieces.
• You do not cause a nuisance to other visitors.

Ordering of photographs from the municipal photo collection is possible at local photographer's rates with associated fees associated with services provided by City Archives staff. Records that are not public, but for which permission to consult has been granted under certain conditions, may not be reproduced.

Visitors may not calibrate or overlay material without the permission of a staff member.

A computer is available in the reading room. You can consult the files placed on it. In addition, a large number of archive sources can be consulted online. Because the website of the Stadsarchief is linked to that of the Historisch Genootschap Oud Soetermeer, you can access historical information about Zoetermeer integrally online. Internet is accessible via the visitors' computer.

All records held in the City Archives are in principle public. A small number of records are excluded from this public access. These records cannot be consulted on the basis of legal provisions or to protect the privacy of individuals. If you wish to conduct research in non-public archives, you must submit a reasoned written request to the board of mayor and aldermen of Zoetermeer to temporarily lift the restriction on public access to the archive documents you wish to consult.

In principle, you can consult all archival and visual material in original. Excluded from this is material:

• which is in poor condition
• which when transferred to the City Archives is subject to restrictive provisions
• that for reason of lack of access is not accessible or is in progress 
• Of which a duplicate (duplicate) or substitute (replacement) is present 
• that cannot be consulted for other reasons; about which information is on file with an employee

Request

To request records, please contact a staff member. The staff member has the right to limit the number of records a visitor wishes to access.

Guidance

If you have any questions during your research, you can contact a staff member. His guidance will support your research. If you wish to have the research conducted by a staff member, this will be done on the basis of the applicable Fee Ordinance.

Handling of archival documents

All archives and collections at the City Archives are unique and therefore irreplaceable. Many of them are very fragile because of their age. This means that the documents must be treated with care. It is therefore forbidden to treat archive documents in such a way that damage may occur in any way. It is not permitted to make notes in the material provided, to put folds or otherwise cause damage, nor to change the order of loosely arranged documents, to put writing paper or arm on the documents or to lean on the documents. Wetting the finger when turning over is not permitted. The use of pencil when taking notes is recommended. In the case of bundling loose records, strictly maintain the order (arrangement) found therein.

Published

When you publish information from the archives and collections of the City Archives, you are responsible for it. You must arrange for copyright yourself. Should the archive nevertheless be held liable, it will recover damages - for example, in the event of copyright infringement - from the visitor concerned. Under the Personal Data Protection Act, you may not publish or disclose data about living persons in such a way that the interests of these persons are disproportionately harmed. When publishing data, you must acknowledge the source: 'source: Stadsarchief Zoetermeer'.

Food and drink

Eating and/or drinking in the vicinity of records is prohibited. A coffee corner has been established in the Reading Room for the consumption of food and beverages.

Accessibility

Public transportation

The archive is easily accessible by public transportation. The 'Stadhuis' stop can be reached from the Stadhuisplein.

Bike

You may place your bicycle at your own risk on the market side of City Hall.

Car

You have opportunity to park your car in the parking garages in the Stadshart. A maximum free parking time applies here. At the other parking spots in the Stadshart you can park at the applicable rates.
More information about parking

Complaints and disputes

You may have complaints about the services provided by the City Archives. In the first instance, you can contact the municipal archivist. If your complaint has not been dealt with to your satisfaction, you may write to board of mayor and aldermen. In the unlikely event that your complaint has still not been dealt with by the college to your satisfaction, you may, as a last resort, contact the Municipal Ombudsman's Committee, PO Box 15, 2700 AA Zoetermeer.

The municipal archivist may deny a visitor who violates these visitor regulations the opportunity for further research or access to the reading room. You may file a complaint against this decision as mentioned above.

Research results

We would appreciate it if you would make a copy of your final research results available to the City Archives for wide consultation by future visitors.

Reading room opening hours

• Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. by telephone appointment
• for Mondays and Tuesdays by telephone appointment no later than the preceding Thursday
• for Thursdays by telephone appointment no later than the preceding Tuesday

Contact

Call 079-346 8577 or fill out the contact form.