Boston College has filed an appeal of a federal court ruling issued last month that ordered the college to turn over transcripts and recordings of interviews with seven individuals who took part in the Belfast Project, an oral-history project on the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Prosecutors in Northern Ireland are seeking the documents in relation to a criminal investigation of the 1972 kidnapping and killing of a suspected informant. Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, said in an e-mail message on Tuesday that the institution was seeking further review of the order to determine whether the value of those interviews to the prosecutors "outweighs the interests in protecting the confidentiality of academic research materials."

The college is not appealing an earlier decision in the case, regarding interviews with Dolours Price, a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the spokesman said, "because the court both accepted Boston College's argument that government subpoenas for confidential academic materials require heightened scrutiny, and agreed to review the materials in camera to help protect the significant interests at stake."