Reduced service, September 2026. The Institute remains open and its collections, card indexes and correspondence are in order, but it works at the minimum compatible with the care of the material and with obligations already entered into. The reading room opens on Wednesday and Thursday, 10.00–15.30 and by written appointment only; three posts stand vacant and may not be filled; no colloquium is being held this year; and three works are complete and unprinted for want of the printing budget. The reasons are set out under History of the Institute. These pages are revised twice a year, in March and September.

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• I · Numismatics
• II · Diplomatics
• III · Documentary editing
• IV · Writing and manuscripts
• V · Documentation
• VI · Laboratory
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Statute, rules of use and data rules Satzung, Ordnungen und Benutzungsbestimmungen

The statute of the Institute was approved by the Lower Saxony ministry of culture on 18 June 1951 and revised three times, in 1974, 1989 and 2011; the text in force is that of 1 April 2011. What follows is an extract of the articles that concern users from outside, together with the substance of the rules made under them. A copy of the full statute may be had from the academic office for €3.00.

1. Extracts from the statute

Article 1 — name and legal status

The Institute is named the Wolfenbüttel Institute for Numismatics, Diplomatics, Documentary Editing and Writing Laboratory; in German, Wolfenbütteler Institut für Numismatik, Diplomatik, Dokumentenedition und Schriftlabor; abroad it uses the abbreviation WINDDEW.LAB. It is a non-juristic institution of the Land Niedersachsen, answerable to the ministry of science and culture, its budget forming a separate chapter of the state budget.

Article 2 — objects

The Institute exists to:

1. identify, describe, date and keep coins, charters and manuscripts, together with the images and card records made from them;
2. edit the charters of the region to scholarly standards and to provide the indexes of persons, places and subjects that go with an edition;
3. study the writing and the manuscript culture of the region, including the development of scripts, the identification of scribes, bindings and fragments;
4. maintain the card indexes and authority files used by the partner institutions, and supply duplicates to them;
5. hold colloquia, teaching and instruction, and publish the results of its work;
6. so far as these objects allow, advise and test for public institutions and for scholars.

Article 3 — director and deputy

The director is appointed by the ministry on the recommendation of the advisory board for six years and may be reappointed. The deputy is nominated by the director and appointed with the agreement of the conference for the same term. The director represents the Institute; questions of budget, personnel and long-term direction are settled by the conference and reported to the ministry.

Article 4 — research divisions

Divisions are established as the work requires and are not permanent. To establish, merge or close one, the director puts a proposal to the conference, the advisory board gives an opinion, and the ministry decides. The remit of the six divisions at present is set out in Annex 1 to the statute, reproduced below in section 2.

Article 5 — advisory board

The advisory board has seven members: five scholars from outside, one representative of the ministry and one representative of the Institute's staff, who has no vote. Members are nominated by the director for four years. The board meets every two years and advises on research direction, publication and major purchases; its opinions are minuted and a summary is published with the annual report.

Article 6 — data and archive

The cards, images, transcriptions and test records made by the Institute belong to the Institute. Supplying them to others, and the conditions and charges for doing so, are governed by the rules of use in section 4 below. Material obtained in the course of duty may not be used for private profit, nor passed to a third party without acknowledgement of its source, without the director's written consent. That obligation survives the end of employment.

2. Annex 1: the remit of the divisions (text of 1 April 2011)

3. The internal data rules (abridged)

The Regelwerk zur internen Datenerschließung, internal reference RW-5, is drafted by Division V and adopted by the conference. The third edition of September 2016 runs to forty-six pages and is not published. The paragraphs that affect users from outside are summarised here.

The paragraphs chosen are those that bear on users from outside. Those concerning internal procedure, the division of work between staff and the calibration of instruments are not reproduced. Anyone quoting the rules should cite "internal data rules of WINDDEW.LAB (RW-5), third edition, as summarised by the Institute", since the full text is not published.

4. Rules for the use of the collections

4.1 Scope

These rules apply to the charters, coins, card indexes, microfilm, images and test records held by the Institute, and to the holdings of the reference library. Anyone who consults them on the premises, enquires in writing, commissions a test or otherwise uses them is taken to have accepted these rules.

4.2 Who may consult, and how

• Consultation is granted for research, teaching, the business of public institutions and the protection of cultural property.
• Application must be made five working days in advance, stating the purpose, the material required — with reference numbers where possible — and the time proposed.
• On arrival, readers show identification and complete a consultation slip. The slips are used for the annual statistics and are not disclosed to anyone else.
• Readers under eighteen must be accompanied by a teacher or guardian.

4.3 Handling originals

• Charters are consulted at the designated desk and may not be taken out of the reading room; not more than ten items are issued at a time, further items being issued in a later batch.
• Cotton gloves, supplied by the Institute, are worn when handling originals; the surface of paper or seal may not be touched with bare fingers.
• No mark, fold, moisture or weight may be applied to an original. Adhesive tape, labels and bookmarks may not be used.
• Originals may not be placed in direct sunlight or on a radiator. Readers' own lamps require the duty officer's agreement.
• Coins are handled on a felt pad only, and no metal instrument may touch a coin surface.

4.4 Copying and photography

4.5 Citation and acknowledgement

Anyone using the Institute's descriptions, test records or index entries should say so in the publication, citing "WINDDEW.LAB, Wolfenbüttel" and giving the reference number. Those who have had substantial help from a member of staff should name that person in the acknowledgements. The Institute does not ask for an offprint, but is glad to receive one, and files it with its publications.

4.6 Closure periods and personal data

Files and correspondence containing personal data are closed for ten years from the year in which they were concluded, and for thirty years where they concern personnel or health. An application to consult closed material must state the purpose of the research and how personal data will be handled; the director decides. Material bearing on personnel matters between 1933 and 1945 is closed for thirty years in every case, and may be closed for longer by decision of the director.

5. House rules for staff (points of substance)

1. Attendance. The academic office and the reading room keep an attendance book. Laboratory work requires two people present; the X-ray fluorescence instrument is never operated alone.
2. Entry to stores. Keys to the strongroom and the attic store are held by the academic office. Entry is recorded with the time, the reason and the names of those present; visitors do not enter unaccompanied.
3. Issue and return. Internal issue is entered on a slip like any other. Material not finished with during the day is not left on a desk overnight but returned to a closed trolley.
4. Language of description. Uncertainty is expressed in the three forms of § 2.7 of the data rules. A doubt is never dropped in order to reach a firmer-looking conclusion.
5. Answers to enquiries. Answers are drafted by the division concerned and sent by the academic office. Anything involving charges, licences or closure periods is signed by the director.
6. Images and data. Private storage media are not connected to Division V's working machines. Images sent out are given reference numbers and checked for completeness first.
7. Equipment. The equipment book is filled in after use. Faults are reported to Division V the same day and are not repaired by the user.

Collateral note. Two temporary provisions were added to these rules in June 2021, on the registration of arrivals and on ventilation, during the epidemic. They ceased to have effect in April 2022 and are not reproduced here; the file is Akt 31/2. A reader who finds them in an old print-out is looking at a text that is no longer in force.

6. How long each kind of application takes