Terms of Use

1. montan.dok is open from Monday to Thursday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, and on Friday from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm. It can be used free of charge for mining-related and scientific research purposes. A fee may be charged for private or commercial use.
2. The director of montan.dok, or a designated representative, will issue a permit to use montan.dok following the presentation of an application precisely stating the purpose and subject of the research activity.
3. A permit will only be issued to such persons who can prove they have a professional, scientific or legitimate personal interest in having access to the archival materials and other documents, and who can produce personal identification and give an assurance that they will observe the Terms of Use.
4. The permission to use may be revoked if
   1. special contractual agreements exist, that completely or partly preclude the use of the archival materials and other documents;
   2. this would endanger the legitimate interests of third parties, especially living persons or the donors of archival materials and other documents;
   3. there are serious reservations regarding the particular user or the purpose of their research activities;
   4. the preservation or access status of the archival materials and other documents does not permit such use.
5. The permission to use includes permission for the user to prepare transcripts and extracts of archival materials and other documents. Photocopies and reproductions may only be made by montan.dok staff following an examination of the conservational and legal situation, and a fee shall be payable. The archive director will decide on any exceptions to this rule. montan.dok reserves the right to refuse to make reproductions for legal, conservational or other such reasons.
6. Users are not permitted to photograph archival materials and other documents of montan.dok within the reading room of the montan.dok. Following a separate application and an examination of the specific case by the director of montan.dok or a designated representative, permission may be given for the user to take work photographs using their own camera and subject to conservational regulations. These work photographs may only be used for personal, private purposes, in order to facilitate scientific research on and with the collections of montan.dok. Any publication or passing on to other persons is prohibited. Irrespective of any permission granted, it is strictly prohibited to photograph copyright-protected works and visual artworks, or documents which are subject to archival, data protection or other such limitation periods, or which do not belong to montan.dok (e.g. deposited works).
7. For the protection of the collections, the reading room of montan.dok is monitored by video camera. The user agrees to this form of video surveillance.
8. As a rule, any search tools over and beyond the online search portal, www.montandok.de, will only be made available in the reading room. The provision of search tools of whatever type is at the discretion of the director of montan.dok.
9. Users may not access the depositories of montan.dok.
10. The search tools, archival materials and other documents made available must be handled carefully. Damage caused deliberately or due to gross negligence will result in the immediate withdrawal of the permission to use, and possibly to criminal prosecution.
11. Users may not, of their own volition, change the order in which the archive items and documents are found, nor may they insert any notes or marks in the archival materials and other documents. Any identified defects should be reported to the relevant staff of montan.dok.
12. It is not permitted to simultaneously use a large number of archival materials and other documents, or to occupy an excessively large amount of working space.
13. The documents made available and the digital reproductions made of these, may only be used for the specified purpose. Any other use or passing on to any other parties is not permitted, or must be explicitly allowed by montan.dok. The user is duty bound to respect existing third-party rights when using or exploiting materials from montan.dok. It is possible that montan.dok does not hold any rights, especially rights of use and exploitation, to the documents provided, such that third parties may, in some circumstances, continue to hold rights, but could not be identified despite careful investigation. The user is solely responsible for the use of the documents provided, and they shall indemnify montan.dok in respect of all claims raised against montan.dok or Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum, in connection with rights of exploitation, property rights or personality rights. This release from liability includes the assumption of costs connected with an appropriate legal defence.
14. When using documents taken from the collections of montan.dok, the user is duty bound, in connection with any publication, to refer to “Montanhistorische Dokumentationszentrum (montan.dok) beim Deutschen Bergbau-Museum Bochum” as a source. Further details can be found the notes on “Citing Methods”. You are duty bound, moreover, without further ado, to donate one copy free of charge of every publication, of whatever kind, written through using the archival materials and other documents of montan.dok. This applies equally to works not intended for printing (such as dissertations, state examinations, and other academic degree papers).

Updated: October 2020

Download the Terms of Use (pdf)