Record Office Policies and Plans
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Customer Services Policy
West Sussex Record
Office
1.
Introduction
West Sussex Record Office's aims are:
to acquire and preserve the recorded heritage of West Sussex
for reference and enjoyment by present and future generations; to
make these available to all who wish to see them, and provide an
expert advice service where appropriate; to run a Records
Management Service providing centralised, secure and confidential
storage, access and retrieval system for the modern records of West
Sussex County Council, and to work in partnership with our users,
with owners and depositors, and with providers of allied services
to stimulate interest in archives and local studies, to widen and
improve access, and to help in the long-term preservation of our
recorded heritage. We continually strive to improve the service we
offer our customers and to respond to their needs and suggestions,
subject to the over-riding need to protect the Record Office's
unique and irreplaceable holdings.
2. Our service to
customers
We have many customers, whose needs we
have to balance in determining priorities and work programmes. This
policy statement relates primarily to those who use our archive
collections either directly or through written, telephone or e-mail
enquiries. Other customers are the owners or custodians of records,
whether in our care or their own, and West Sussex County Council
departments who use our Records Management service. Our policy with
regard to these groups can be found in our Collecting Policy and
Records Management Policy statements. Our Outreach Policy statement
covers how we aim to increase awareness of our service, encourage
increased use of it and how we can help in provision of services
like education.
The customers who use the Record
Office searchroom and classroom come from varying backgrounds and
have different needs. All our customers have equal standing in our
eyes and we will seek to meet their needs in the most appropriate
way.
3. Service in the
Searchroom
Our archive collections are available
to all to consult without charge and during our advertised opening
times. Because our holdings are unique and irreplaceable, security
needs to be maintained. Customers need to have a County Archive
Research Network (CARN) reader's ticket, or a temporary ticket
issued on the day by our Reception staff. Customers are asked to
follow general guidelines for the protection of our holdings, which
are explained in our basic information leaflet.
The opening hours of our
Searchroom include provision on Saturdays and late night opening on
Thursdays.
The staff in our searchroom are
appropriately trained, helpful, friendly and wear badges that
identify them as staff. They will offer advice and help on the
collections and how to use them. We will endeavour to employ
available resources within our budget to provide a balanced range
of services but we recognise that there will be occasions when we
cannot provide the level and quantity of help which some of our
customers would like.
Facilities are provided for the
consultation of original documents, microform, digital, electronic
and audio-visual records, and there is an extensive library of
printed books.
We welcome school groups and
individual school pupils, as well as further and higher education
groups. Particularly in the case of groups, contact needs to be
made with our Education Officer in advance of a visit. Our service
to schools in the production of National Curriculum-based resources
is covered in our Outreach policy document.
We will provide a clean, safe,
comfortable and quiet environment for our customers to work in,
with full access for the disabled to all our public areas.
Cloakrooms, lockers and a refreshment area are available for
customer's use.
The standards of service our customers
can expect are set out in the Record Office's Charter of Service.
We will continue to monitor our compliance with these
standards.
4. Finding Aids
Without finding aids, the archives
collections we hold cannot be used. Our policy is to provide
readily understandable finding aids for all our collections as soon
as possible. Considerable progress continues to be made in listing
uncatalogued material from our backlog, very few collections are
not box listed, and we will continue to devote time to this and to
improve finding aids for inadequately catalogued archives. All card
indexes are described in Searchroom Leaflet No.4. We intend to
introduce a policy that all new accessions of four boxes or less
should be catalogued within a year of receipt.
Some 90% of our catalogues are now
accessible on-line via the Access to Archives (A2A) website. There
is a link from our own web pages to the A2A site. Staff can give
advice on accessing A2A. Details of our catalogues are also
being placed on our in-house CALM computer system, which is
publicly available. It is not normally practicable to make
uncatalogued material available to customers but where a particular
item is sought, efforts will be made to meet the needs of the
customer.
Copies of our catalogues are also
available at the National Archives as part of the National Register
of Archives and copies of catalogues of our major collections are
available for sale and in local libraries. We aim to catalogue and
index our collections in accordance with national and international
standards in order to facilitate the networking of information.
In order to make our collections
easier to use, we will continue to provide searchroom leaflets and
booklets describing certain collections, or how they may be used,
aimed at different groups of customers with varying needs.
We will continue to suggest ways of
making use of our collections in our published series of Local
History Mini-Guides to places and subjects, researched and
published in association with West Sussex County Library Service.
Our aim is to publish two such Mini-Guides each year, one devoted
to a place in West Sussex and the other devoted to a research
subject.
Our aim is to extend our our series of
searchroom leaflets, which give guidance on how to use certain
types of records in our care.
5. Access
Our aim is to provide access as widely
as possible to the documents in our care. We aim to retrieve
catalogued documents from the strongrooms within fifteen minutes.
Some restricted documents and uncatalogued collections sometimes
require advance notice.
There will inevitably be occasions
when our customers cannot see the items they request. The owners of
records may have placed restrictions on access at the time of
deposit, and there are some legal restrictions on access to public
records. Generally these restrictions apply to personal, or
confidential, records. As a matter of course we will try to
encourage depositors not to restrict access. We will explain any
such restrictions to our customers and apply them equitably.
It may not be possible to make
available documents which are in poor physical condition, where
making them available would be prejudicial to their survival. Where
microform or photographic copies of records have been made, we ask
our customers to use these in place of the originals.
If a customer asks to see privately
deposited records in connection with legal proceedings we will
consult the depositor before this use is allowed. We will not give
advice, opinions or rulings to customers on legal matters.
6. Making Copies
We will provide facilities to make
copies of documents. Details of our reprographic services are given
in Searchroom Leaflet No.3. Copies will be made subject to the
provisions of the Copyright Acts in force and any restrictions
placed by the owners of the material. The County Council agrees the
scale of fees for such copies each year. Copies will not be made
where there is a physical risk to the record from the copying
process. In these cases we will explain the reason to the customer
and try to suggest an alternative approach.
We aim to provide prints from
microform on the day the request is received from personal callers,
and within five working days for postal, telephone or e-mail
enquiries. Any new filming of documents will be dispatched within
three months of receipt of a confirmed order.
Customers are required to sign a
Copyright Declaration form when ordering copies of documents.
If customers wish to reproduce copies
in a publication, they must apply for permission to do this and
reproduction fees are payable, though we do not normally charge
these for local non-profit-making publications. Where records are
privately owned permission must be sought from the owners of the
documents concerned.
7. Enquiries and
Research
We will provide a well-informed and
helpful service to customers who write, e-mail or telephone the
Record Office, ensuring that they receive appropriate advice on the
sources, which will help them and on their availability.
Enquiries received by Email and letter will be
acknowledged within five working days and, if research and
information is required, will be answered in full within ten
working days.
We provide a Research Service, for a
fee, for those unable to visit the Record Office in person, to
undertake research on documents in our care. Details can be found
in West Sussex Record Office information Leaflet: Research Service
and on our website. We also maintain a list of independent record
searchers so that customers have a choice.
8. Listening to our
Customers
We endeavour to provide a good
service, but there are occasions when things can go wrong. We are
anxious to hear if we have not provided a service to our customer's
satisfaction or have failed to keep our policy promises. All
complaints are followed up as soon as possible and there is a
formal complaints procedure.
We welcome suggestions and comments
from customers for improvements to any aspect of our services.
Feedback forms are available in the searchroom and a comments book
is provided at the Reception Desk for suggestions and complaints
and verbal comments are recorded by staff. We also participate in
the national user surveys organised by CIPFA.
We will actively seek customer's
opinions on our services and how they are delivered, not only
through comments and complaints procedures but also through
occasional customer surveys. Monthly meetings of searchroom staff
will consider comments and complaints and discuss ways of further
improving service delivery.
Richard Childs, County Archivist
2005
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Collecting Policy
West Sussex Record
Office
Statement of Collecting
Policy
1. The Basis for
Activity
West Sussex Record Office, as part of
West Sussex County Council, exercises the functions of the council
in respect of any enactment or agreement relating to records of
archives in its custody, and in particular.
a) S.224 of the Local Government Act
1972, whereby the Record Office fulfils, on behalf of the Council,
the authority's responsibility for making proper arrangements for
documents belonging to it or in its custody.
b) The Local Government (Records) Act
1962 whereby the County Council was constituted an archive
authority with powers to make provision for the inspection and
copying of documents, prepare finding aids, publish records, hold
exhibitions, stage lectures, purchase and accept gifts and deposits
of records including those of other local authorities, and do all
such things as appear to be necessary or expedient for enabling
adequate use to be made of records under its control.
c) S.4(1) of the Public Record Acts
1958, whereby, as an appointed place of deposit, the West Sussex
Record Office accepts the deposit of defined categories of public
record of a local character on behalf of the Lord
Chancellor.
d) An instrument dated 7 February
1949, whereby the Bishop of Chichester established a diocesan
record office at the West Sussex Record Office to serve as a place
of deposit for registers and records of ecclesiastical parishes
located within the administrative are of the County Council. Such
records are currently held under the provisions of the Paroachial
Registers and Records Measure 1978.
e) Instruments dated 3 March 1951 and
8 June 1951, whereby the Bishop of Chichester and the dean and
Chapter of Chichester respectively appointed West Sussex Record
Office to serve as a place of deposit for their episcopal and
capitular records.
f) The Manorial Documents Rules of
1959 and the Tithe (Copies of Apportionment) Rules of 1960, whereby
as an approved place of deposit the West Sussex Record Office
accepts custody of, respectively, manorial and tithe documents on
behalf of the Master of the Rolls.
2. The Scope of the
Collections
The County archivist may accept
custody of:
Such records or archives as, through
their content, record or illustrate the administration, life and
development of the whole or any part of the county and area of West
Sussex, or of its people, throughout its history.
Such records may be in written,
graphic, or mechanically or electronically generated form, and may
be in the shape of books, papers, parchments, maps, photographs,
microforms, aural or visual recordings, or electronic storage
systems, and may exceptionally include non-archival items otherwise
appropriate to a museum or library if their inherent association
with any archival grouping justifies it.
3. Geographical
Coverage
Archival material collected in the
West Sussex Record Office shall relate to the whole or to any part
of the administrative county of West Sussex as constituted in or
after 1974, except that coverage may additionally include:
a) the archive of any body or
institution which relates to the whole or to a major part of the
County of Sussex, the appropriate location of the archives to be
determined by agreement with the archive authority of East
Sussex.
b) The archive of any body,
institution, business, estate or individual, the greater part of
which relates to, or the originating source of which lies within,
the administrative county of West Sussex as presently constituted,
even though some parts of the archive relate to places or areas
outside the administrative county.
Richard Childs, County Archivist
February 1998
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Terms of Deposit
West Sussex Record
Office
Principal Terms of
Deposit
1. West Sussex Record Office is
willing to receive records either as a gift or on indefinite loan.
All documents received shall remain in the custody of the County
Archivist.
2. Where documents are deposited, the
depositor retains ownership together with the right to withdraw all
or part of the collections deposited upon reasonable notice in
writing, subject to any special conditions agreed upon at the time
of deposit.
3. Though records are deposited on
indefinite loan it is assumed that the period of deposit will be,
other than in exceptional circumstances, not less than 25 years in
order that expenditure incurred by the Record Office on
conservation and cataloguing can be justified. If a deposit is
withdrawn permanently the depositor may be required to make a
financial contribution towards the costs incurred by the Record
Office during the period of deposit.
4. The Record Office reserves the
right to undertake any repair of conservation work deemed necessary
for the preservation of the material.
5. The Record Office reserves the
right to microfilm, photograph or copy by any appropriated means
such deposited records as it deems suitable both for the purposes
of preservation of the original material and improving access to
the material. Ownership of and copyright in such material shall be
vested in the Record Office.
6. The Record Office may take such
measures deemed necessary for the administration of deposited
documents such as their rearrangement, stamping and marking.
7. The deposited material will be
stored in environmentally controlled strongrooms with alarm systems
to prevent damage by fire, water and theft. All reasonable
precautions will be taken to prevent loss of or damage to the
deposited material. However should damage or loss occur the County
Council cannot be held liable for compensation.
8. Documents shall be produced for
consultation by researchers in accordance with the Record Office's
rules for public use of records and archives, subject to any
special conditions agreed between the depositor and the Record
Office at the time of deposit.
9. The copying of documents by
photography or photocopying is permitted for the purposes of
private and unpublished research, subject to any restrictions
agreed upon at time of deposit and compliance with such copyright
regulations as may be in force. For any other purpose, including
publication, the consent of the owner or depositor is
necessary.
10. The Record Office may place any of
the deposited material in an exhibition on its own premises,
subject to any restrictions on access applicable to the deposit,
under such conditions as are reasonable for the exhibition of such
material.
N.B. For the avoidance of doubt these
terms do not apply in the case where items are gifted to the Record
Office.
Richard Childs, County Archivist
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Information for Depositors
Information for depositors and
owners of records
The quality and range of West Sussex
Record Office's holdings is founded on the generosity and
forethought of many organisations and individuals who, over the
past 60 years, have chosen to deposit their records with us.
We are always keen to increase our
holdings and to acquire documents and other material relating to
the history and heritage of the county. We therefore welcome
approaches from organisations and individuals who might be
interested in depositing such records with us. We are also pleased
to receive information concerning the whereabouts of such
documents.
Of interest to us would be:
- records of West Sussex organisations such as churches,
businesses, schools and charities.
- documentation relating to an individual or family with the
county, such as correspondence, diaries, title deeds and estate
records.
- books pamphlets, maps and other printed material relating to
the county.
- photographs and postcards of West Sussex scenes or people.
We accept documents in accordance with our Collecting Policy and we
will gladly advise people if another repository is more a
appropriate way to receive records that do not relate to our sphere
of collecting.
Organisations or individuals may
deposit their archives with us in one of two ways. They may gift
their archives (our preferred option), thus securing their
long-term public availability, or they may deposit their archives
and thus retain legal ownership. The second option is most relevant
to organisations that continue to exist. Full details about the
conditions under which records may be deposited can be found in our
Terms of Deposit.
All archives in our care, whether
gifted or deposited, will be managed as follows. They will be:
- stored in environmentally controlled strongrooms
- securely protected by fire and intruder alarms
- catalogued and indexed
- made available to the public under supervised conditions in our
searchroom
Withdrawal of records by owners and depositors
As mentioned above, our preferred form
of deposit is for records to be gifted to the Record Office. We do
however understand that there are circumstances where this is
either not possible or desirable and therefore we accept deposit of
records on indefinite loan.
Whilst in our care public funds are
spent on looking after the documents in order both to preserve them
and to make them publicly accessible. We are happy to discuss the
temporary withdrawal of records for the purpose of exhibition, for
example. However, we are keen not to encourage the permanent
withdrawal of documents by their owners. Nevertheless we recognise
that there are occasions where an owner wishes to remove records
permanently and we will respect their right to do so. In such
circumstances, it helps us to receive as much notification as
possible of intended withdrawal and to facilitate this we have
provided a notice of withdrawal form, which should be completed and
sent to the Record Office in advance of the removal of any records.
We usually expect the owner of the records or his/her agent to
collect the records from the Record Office in person where they
will be required to sign for the withdrawal.
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