Access Policy for Special
Collections at the
University of Bradford
Special Collections
J.B. Priestley Library
University of Bradford
Bradford. BD7 1DP.
Email: special-collections@bradford.ac.uk
Web: http://www.brad.ac.uk/library/special-collections
Tel: +44 (0) 1274 235256
February 2014
Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
Author: Alison Cullingford.
Version: 1.00
Document history: Incorporates feedback following circulation of 0.04
Date: February 2014
Audience: Public document
Copyright: University of Bradford. Readers are welcome to share it
under the terms of our Creative Commons licence: AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Special Collections welcomes feedback on its documentation. Please
contact us if you have any comments, if you need to view this in an
alternative format, or if you wish to use it in any way not covered by the
Creative Commons licence: special-collections@bradford.ac.uk
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CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................4
Publication history ......................................................................................4
Publication scope .......................................................................................5
Context .......................................................................................................5
Principles ....................................................................................................6
Legislation, standards and guidelines.........................................................7
Special Collections audiences: a work in progress .....................................7
Access in the Reading Room .....................................................................8
Access via the enquiry service ...................................................................9
Access via reprographic services .............................................................11
Access at the University of Bradford.........................................................11
Access to Special Collections online ........................................................12
Access to Special Collections via exhibitions and events .........................14
Access for volunteers and stakeholders ...................................................15
Restrictions on access to collections ........................................................17
Barriers to access .....................................................................................17
Feedback and complaints .........................................................................18
Service continuity .....................................................................................18
Policy review.............................................................................................19
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
INTRODUCTION
Special Collections at the University of Bradford collects, cares for and makes
available unique and distinctive (UD) archives, rare books and other heritage
material in support of the University’s teaching, research and community
engagement. The collections offer a unique selling point for the University and
hence are also invaluable in its marketing, fundraising and other management
activities.
This mission means we are relevant to many audiences, inside and outside our
parent University. This document discusses who these audiences are, the
services we offer them, and how we intend to develop and improve.
Policy-making in this area is delegated to the Special Collections Librarian, who
is expected to have appropriate knowledge of best practice and to consult
professional colleagues and stakeholders. This document uses our collections
typology (Heritage, Legacy, Self-renewing, Finite), which is explained in full in the
Collection Development Policy (CDP)1. It is closely linked to our other policies on
Collections Care and Collections Information. Our policies are implemented
through our Forward Plan and we run services and gather information about them
via our operational documents.
PUBLICATION HISTORY
Many of the policies in this document were developed when the Special
Collections service was set up in 2000. They have been readily available online
and in printed form ever since. Recent developments mean that it is timely to
revisit them.
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Our revised CDP has refined our strategic thinking about collections and
therefore also their audiences and our services.
We are adopting the “Access” structure used in PAS 1972: the basis of the
Archive Accreditation Scheme and likely to become standard for managing
UD collections in the UK.
The economic, social and technological landscape of higher education and the
public sector is turbulent and rapidly changing. These means that UD services
will thrive only by demonstrating their value to their parent institution in
measurable and credible ways. We also see new opportunities through new
technologies (which make remote access and volunteering more rewarding
experiences than before).
1
The CDP along with our other policies is available from
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/about-us/policies/
2
Collections Trust and British Standards Institution (2009). PAS 197: Code of practice for cultural
collections management.
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This report should be seen as an interim publication. Audience development has
been a key objective in 2013-2014, following two years in which for good reasons
we were unable to explore new areas of outreach. We have since engaged with
audience development research in the arts and heritage sectors and are
collaborating with colleagues in the main University Library to improve customer
services using similar techniques. We report our progress so far in this policy.
We are also about to embark on a review of our reprographic, commercial and
digital services, as explained below.
This document replaces all previous Special Collections policies relating to
access.
PUBLICATION SCOPE
This document covers our analogue collections and our existing digital
collections. These are mainly boutique digitised versions of analogue originals or
occasional legacy formats within analogue collections. It considers our mediated
services and our online offer.
We are not yet in a position to collect or offer access to born-digital documents on
any scale. This is an area where strategy and policy are still being shaped3 and
which will be addressed in future revisions of this policy. This document will
allude to these collections and services as they arise but statements should not
be taken as official policy.
CONTEXT
The Special Collections service was founded in 2000 when professional staff
were first appointed to manage archives and rare books in the J.B. Priestley
Library. The collections were mostly “hidden” but there had been occasional use
through a range of ad hoc practices and activities. Guided by the work of the
Public Services Quality Group and extensive research, we created the Reading
Room and developed services in response to user needs and sector practice.
As with all archives services, we are constrained by our limited staffing, funding
and the nature of the Special Collections spaces. Our staff: the Special
Collections Librarian (full-time, permanent), the Special Collections Assistant
(part-time permanent) and a shifting pattern of support from Library colleagues,
volunteers and project staff. We rely on fundraising and income generation to
pay for many access activities. The Reading Room, as will be seen, is adequate
but struggles to meet current or future needs for digital access. We are working
with our senior management and stakeholders to improve our capacity in all
these areas.
3
As outlined in the position paper for internal audiences Digital Storage and Delivery for Special
Collections.
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
We refuse however to let these limits define us. We are continuously seeking
ways to exceed them, such as collaboration with partners (see the stakeholder
list in the CDP) and embracing social media and other new technologies. We
see being a small team as an asset: we are able to offer in-depth one-to-one
support to University of Bradford students and to develop long-term connections
with our audiences in individual and personalised ways. We can also be nimble
and flexible in response to user needs or new opportunities.
PRINCIPLES
1. Special Collections are open to all. We exist to support the University in its
mission, but the nature of UD collections and services means that we would
not be fulfilling that mission if access was confined to our own staff and
students. Our collections are part of national and international networks of
resources. Making them available to everyone raises the University’s profile
and makes us new friends everywhere. All collections are open to all, unless
there are legal or other compelling reasons to restrict them. We outline such
reasons in the relevant section below.
2. Access to Special Collections in the Reading Room is free of charge to all and
we aim to offer other services free of charge wherever legally and practically
possible. We reserve the right to charge for staff-intensive services and
commercial use. Specific charges are discussed under the relevant service.
3. We offer extra services to our own staff, students and other key stakeholders,
such as teaching sessions, workshops, help with funding bids and in-depth
research.
4. We aim to ensure that Reading Room access is necessary only for those
audiences for whom access to originals matters. The activities discussed in
our Collections Information Policy are intended to ensure that anyone who is
unable or unwilling to visit is not obliged to do so in order to gain access.
5. We are open to the potential of new technologies to transform access. We
embrace the potential of the web and in particular social media to open up
access to collections as never before.
6. We are committed to removing barriers which prevent those who might gain
from the collections seeking them out. We actively engage with the
University’s policies on equal opportunities and disabilities and seek help from
expert colleagues.
7. Customer care is at the heart of our work. We do all we can to give visitors
and enquirers the best possible experience and support them in making the
most of collections.
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LEGISLATION, STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES
Access to Special Collections must comply with relevant legislation. This
currently includes:
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Data Protection Act (1998)
Freedom of Information Act (2000)
Equality Act (2010)
Copyright legislation
The corporate lead in these areas is taken by the University’s Legal Services
Team. We also seek help from experts in our sector, particularly the National
Archives.
We aim to comply with the following standards:


Collections Trust and British Standards Institution (2009). PAS 197: Code of
Practice for Cultural Collections Management.
National Council on Archives: Public Services Quality Group (2008). A
Standard for Access to Archives.
We are grateful for initiatives, informal guidance and peer support from the
following (and many other) networks and groups.
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Archives Hub and COPAC
Archives and Records Association
Arts Council England
CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group
Group for Literary Archives and Manuscripts
HE Archivists Group
Historic Libraries Forum
JISC Digital Media
Mailing lists, especially archives-nra and lis-rarebooks
The National Archives (legislation, audience development)
OCLC Research
Public Services Quality Group
UK Archives Discovery Forum
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AUDIENCES: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Like most such services, our collections appeal to multiple, overlapping
communities. Since the inception of the Special Collections service in 2000 we
have gathered detailed evidence about our users: statistics, feedback and
evidence of impact. As we are a small service, we know our audiences very well
personally and have seen patterns of use develop.
In 2013-14 we are developing a more strategic approach. This will enable us to
gather better evidence about our users (required by stakeholders and funders)
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and ensure we are reaching all relevant audiences aligned with our mission. We
will be publishing our findings and plan later in the year.
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Investigating how other organisations consider audiences and seeing how
these techniques can be applied to Special Collections4.
Reviewing services in the light of these findings to ensure we are meeting
user needs. In particular, where we are not reaching audiences who should
be interested, asking why and findings ways forward.
Collaborating with colleagues elsewhere in the Library to explore customer
services and satisfaction throughout the organisation. This includes for
example customer journey mapping and customer segmentation. We are
supporting our colleagues in this process and using techniques for Special
Collections audiences and services.
Finding ways to manage feedback and measure our value and impact.
Our current audiences fall into the following groups:
1. University of Bradford students
2. University of Bradford academic staff
3. Other University of Bradford staff (e.g. administrative, arts, marketing)
4. Alumni
5. Ex-staff
6. Other stakeholders (listed in our CDP).
7. Academic researchers from other institutions
8. Independent researchers
9. Media, marketing, publishing
10. Arts and creative
11. Schools and young people
12. Active retired people
ACCESS IN THE READING ROOM
About this service
The Special Collections Reading Room offers facilities for visitors to consult
collections in person, supervised by our staff. Visitors use materials fetched for
them from our stores and browse the printed book collections in the Room itself.
We also have reference books and audio-visual facilities to hand.
We also use the space for consultations (for example, discussing dissertation
research with an individual or group of our students), group visits and teaching
sessions. It is suitable for small business meetings, though such events which do
not require use of originals can also be accommodated in meeting and teaching
rooms elsewhere in the University.
4
For instance, using The National Archives toolkit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-
sector/developing-your-audience.htm
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
As with all such services, to protect collections from harm, users of originals are
required to follow the rules of the Reading Room. All new visitors receive an
induction explaining how to handle collections. Special Collections staff are
empowered to enforce the rules and are encouraged to do so in a supportive
way. More detail about collections care and the Reading Room in our Collections
Care Policy.
Access to the Reading Room is via a first-come-first-served appointments
system. Appointments are booked by Special Collections staff using the
University’s Meeting Maker software. Reading Room hours are 10-4.30 Monday
to Friday, shorter than staff working hours, to allow for staff meetings, training,
housekeeping activities and to minimise the risk to service from transport delays
affecting our staff. Appointments are sometimes possible outside these times by
prior arrangement. We stay open during lunchtime whenever we have more than
one staff member available.
Audiences
It is intended to meet the needs of academic researchers and other users for
whom the research process and access to originals are paramount motivations in
access. This includes those exploring personal history, family history, authors
they enjoy, or looking for artistic inspiration.
Improving this service
We offer the basics needed for access to originals, but need to improve. These
comments are based on years of talking to visitors plus knowledge of likely
developments.
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Access for laptops and other devices (power-points poorly located)
Environment (problems with outside noise – soundproofing needed – and
lighting)
Access to digital collections (discussed in our digital strategy position paper)
Access to audio-visual collections (we don’t currently have equipment to
access all the formats we hold).
More appointments (not necessarily longer hours – we have only had a
handful of requests for access outside these hours).
All these issues are covered in our Forward plan.
Our booking system and services will improve with the implementation of Office
365 in 2014. Better access to appointments data outside the University and on
mobile devices will make it easier to operate our service.
ACCESS VIA THE ENQUIRY SERVICE
About this service
Special Collections staff encourage enquiries relating to the collections via email,
telephone, post or social media platforms such as Twitter. We aim to send an
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
initial reply within two working days (postal enquiries will take longer), but the
time it takes to answer an enquiry will vary considerably depending on workload
and nature of research required.
We manage enquiries using our Excel Enquiries Register. Research enquiries
are “triaged” depending on the time-scale of the enquirer and their relevance to
mission i.e. we give highest priority to time-sensitive University business such as
press requests or queries relevant to external audit.
With the exception of research to support University or stakeholder business, we
have to limit the time spent on individual enquiries. We will not, for instance, look
through whole volumes of Reynolds Newspaper or search whole archive series
or collections. Unlike some services we do not set a precise time limit on
enquiries: there are too many variables. We do operate a “golden hour” concept:
beginning our research in the most likely locations and being firm about the point
at which further research becomes increasingly unlikely to yield results. For our
fully catalogued collections, this usually takes about 15 minutes. Work on
uncatalogued or roughly catalogued collections takes much longer.
Special Collections does not currently offer a paid research service. We do not
have staffing to offer this and we do not believe it would be a cost-effective use of
staff time. If extensive research is needed, enquirers are advised that they need
to visit or make other appropriate arrangements. These might include employing
students via the University’s jobshop or contacting local archives researchers via
local heritage organisations.
We try to be pro-active in predicting and responding to enquiries and they guide
our cataloguing and digitisation priorities. As described in the CIP, we
increasingly catalogue archives on demand. We also aim to make the most of
any research we do for enquirers and encourage them to share their findings with
us to be added to catalogues or become the basis of a blog post.
Audiences
This service is for all groups of users.
Improving this service
We believe that the best way to improve this service is by cataloguing more
collections and pro-actively putting more resources online. This means users
either do not need to use mediated services (though they are of course welcome
to do so) or we can help them more quickly when they contact us.
As mentioned above, the arrival of Office 365 will improve facilities for home and
mobile working and hence this service.
All these issues are covered in our Forward plan.
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ACCESS VIA REPROGRAPHIC SERVICES
About this service
Special Collections offers a range of reprographic services to meet user needs.
All are subject to copyright law and preservation concerns. We describe the
latter in detail in our Collections Care Policy. We encourage visitors to take their
own digital photographs of collections for non-commercial research purposes
(subject to copyright) free of charge. This policy, becoming the norm in our
sector, is very popular with visitors. It offers them as many images as they like
on their own device in a timely way that acts as an aide-memoire. It also frees up
their time to spend with the originals they came to see and staff time to carry out
more productive activities than photocopying.
We continue to offer mediated charged services for remote non-commercial
research and readers who don’t or can’t take advantage of the above service.
This includes photocopying, digital scanning and digital photography. Price lists
and full details of services are available online5. We operate a separate set of
charges for commercial use, where we are licensed to do so.
Audiences
Most visitors now use the personal digital photography service. Mediated
services are used almost entirely now by those who do not visit us – for reasons
of geography or convenience. Commercial/publication users either come to us
from the media/marketing/publishing world or else are academics or other
authors responsible for sourcing their own images.
Improving the service
We intend to review these services as part of our digital review. We last revised
them in 2008 and the technological landscape and expectations of users have
changed enormously since. We also need to be more pro-active in putting
resources online to assist remote users.
ACCESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD
About this service
While all access supports University mission, as we have explained, we are keen
to serve our staff and students directly. We wish to offer them more than the
standard access methods so they can make the most of the collections and
expertise we have developed. We are open to all suggestions; current activities
or offers include:
5
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/services/repro/
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Support for researchers
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One-to-one advice on using UD collections
Collaboration on funding bids e.g. digitisation of Special Collections to enable
more research and widen access.
Community engagement and demonstrating impact via our external
audiences.
Workshops on archival research, using social media for impact and other
relevant topics, as part of Library programme for researchers.
Support for teaching and learning
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Small group sessions in the Reading Room, introducing students to original
materials and explaining how to make the most of primary sources.
Workshops for undergraduates on archival skills and other relevant topics, as
part of the Library programme for students. This helps us reach students who
don’t visit us as part of a module.
One to one sessions with students to help with their dissertations and
research projects.
Support for student employability
We are also keen to support students gain experience and skills for their future
careers. We offer advice to students on careers in the heritage sector individually
or in groups. See section on volunteering for more detail.
Support for marketing and fundraising
We are the memory of the University and its predecessors. We offer images,
stories, facts and support for campaigns and anniversaries.
Audiences
University staff and students. We also offer workshops and events for schools,
as part of the University’s outreach programme. We also offer such extra
services to key stakeholders (for instance, the J.B. Priestley Society).
Improving this service
We need to ensure that our marketing reaches all staff and students who might
be interested and to establish connections with them to find out what they need.
Our marketing support role will be much enhanced when we are able to place
more digitised resources online.
ACCESS TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ONLINE
About this service
Since the founding of the Special Collections in 2000, we have realised that there
are practical limits to the audiences a small team can reach via mediated
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
services like the above. While physical exhibitions can reach larger numbers,
they involve a great deal of staff time in curation. Online services reach
thousands, unlimited by geography or time, and are often quick and easy to
produce. We have therefore always embraced the potential of the web, and,
more recently, of social media to reach out directly to audiences.
Special Collections website6
This is intended to offer as much information as possible about collections and
services in a friendly way appropriate for a corporate website. The Special
Collections Librarian has full access and control over the site’s structure and
content within wider policies and templates of the Library and the University. We
carry out a constant process of review and improvement.
Special Collections social media presence7
Our approach here is more informal, centring on stories, images, and quick
information. This is an area where we are pioneers in the UD world and act as
advocates for the value of providing access in this way. Increasingly we receive
enquiries via these routes.
The most important resources at present are:
1. Our Wordpress blogs. We aim to provide via our blogs a rich and
comprehensive range of resources which have something to offer anyone with
an interest in the areas of our Heritage clusters or our Legacy collections.
These resources are open to all web users and do not require them to
engage. The blogs allow us to respond to anything which seems to be of
current interest. They also act as a databank for future use. Instead of
having knowledge in people’s minds or on internal servers, we aim to get as
much online as possible. Many blog pieces can be used year on year for
recurring events or when something new prompts us to return to them. Blogs
also act as a showcase for the collections. Rather than directing a new
colleagues or contact to the website, we find the 100 Objects exhibition offers
a more enjoyable and worthwhile introduction to the value of what we have
and what we do.
2. Our engagement via Twitter accounts (@100objectsbrad and the Special
Collections Librarian’s “perfessional” account @speccollbrad). These are a
way to share our blog stories. They are also a way to connect with interesting
people across silos within the University, locally, in academia and worldwide.
They reinforce existing networks and allow us to form new ones.
Our social media work is constantly under review to ensure our efforts are
directed to the platforms which will best bring collections and audiences together.
We are committed to maintaining the resources which bring in numbers and rich
6
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/
7
List of current social media platforms: http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/news/
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connections (and not others: currently we find little interest in engaging with us on
our Facebook page for example). We follow all University guidance and policy on
social media. Special Collections staff are trained on using these resources in an
informal but appropriate and risk-free way.
Other sites
We actively engage with sites and platforms belonging to other organisations
which help us to reach key audiences. Such resources include the Archives Hub,
Archon, COPAC and the J.B. Priestley Society website. We host or take part in
rotas for other Twitter accounts in part to raise awareness of our own services.
Currently we manage @YorksRRN and @JBPriestleySoc and share
@LibraryUoB.
Audiences
These services are for anyone anywhere who might be interested. They have
brought us to the attention of University colleagues, local arts and media, and
others worldwide.
Improving this service
In addition to continuous improvement in the above areas, we need to get more
digital resources online to minimise the need for mediated access whenever
possible. We should also explore more formal ways of managing and measuring
the usefulness of such sites. These issues are in our Forward plan.
ACCESS TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS VIA EXHIBITIONS AND
EVENTS
About this service
We recognise that exhibitions offer a way to enjoy collections in their physical
form outside the reading room setting. Special Collections does not have
dedicated space for physical exhibitions of originals. We aspire to create this in
future redevelopment of our building as we believe this would enable us to bring
collections and visitors together (particularly VIP visitors or people arriving
outside opening hours).
Lacking such space, we have found ways to create exhibitions:
1. Partnerships. We are happy to lend objects for display to any exhibition which
can demonstrate it can care for them and otherwise meet our requirements
(more detail in the Collections Care Policy). However we often go beyond
such loans to help develop or even curate major exhibitions on other sites.
As such activities represent a considerable investment of staff time, we focus
on projects which are most relevant to the audiences we wish to reach and
which allow us to share our most significant collections: the Heritage clusters.
We also aim to create at least one exhibition relevant to each cluster each
year, depending on the opportunities that become available to us. Many of
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our exhibition partners are stakeholders for particular clusters (see the lists in
the CDP). Exhibitions are also a focus for learning activities. Here again, we
find that working with partners helps us to offer opportunities for those who
would not visit our site.
Partnerships this year include Gallery II, the J.B. Priestley Society, Bradford
Industrial Museum, Perse School, Peace Studies 40th anniversary conference
and the Wellcome Library.
2. Online. We believe online exhibitions have a huge part to play in exposing
collections to wider audiences. Unlike physical exhibitions, they are
unconstrained by geography or time. It is also possible (and indeed
necessary) to include more narrative and context than is usual in a physical
exhibit. Our online exhibitions (notably Priestley’s Finest Hour and 100
Objects at the University of Bradford) are designed to showcase our
knowledge and to tap into public interests revealed via our web and blog
statistics.
These policies enable us to bring our collections to many who would never see
an on-site display. Even when we have our own space, we will continue to
commit resources to external exhibitions and online work. All our physical
exhibitions will have an online version.
We are also committed to offering events for learning and enjoyment, in addition
to those listed above for University of Bradford students. In most cases, these
are offered alongside exhibitions or other campaigns and with partners.
Audiences
Online exhibits reach and are intended for anyone interested in the topics
covered. Physical exhibitions and events appeal to various audiences, such as
people engaged with the arts, those looking for an interesting day out, or
academic audiences wishing to discuss a particular theme.
Improving this service
Other than creating physical space, this service is about developing connections
which enable us to develop events and exhibitions relevant to our audiences. It
is an area where the insights of audience development will be particularly helpful.
ACCESS FOR VOLUNTEERS AND STAKEHOLDERS
Special Collections does not use volunteers to replace qualified and experienced
professional and support staff. Our policy on the use of volunteers and what we
offer them was written in 2007 and is published online8.
8
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/about-us/policies/#volunteers
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Over the past two years access for volunteers has been transformed and we
have new plans for the future. Previously the constraints of our space and
staffing made it difficult to provide good experiences for onsite volunteers, though
we have had valuable input from placement students. The nature of our
collections (mostly complex modern archives) means that most of our backlog
requires expert input and is not appropriate for volunteer work.
We have seen growing demand for voluntary work in Special Collections in
recent years, almost entirely from students and young people seeking skills and
experience to help them find future employment, reflecting economic pressure
and increased competition for graduate jobs. Many are University of Bradford
students. We wish to support our own students and others interested in our
sector. So we decided to explore the potential of remote transcription,
introducing a pilot project Untangling the Holdens9, which is offered to all who
approach us seeking experience. Students take away copies of 19th century
letters to work on where they wish. We will review the success of the project in
summer 2014, which will give us a complete academic year to study. If we think
this works, we have other collections which might benefit from transcription and
indexing, notably our Bradford Technical College Archive.
There are also increasing possibilities for partnership work with our own students,
where their research or placement work benefits Special Collections. Students of
archaeology, computing, design or media subjects often have skills or access to
resources that we do not have. We are keen to tap into these for mutual benefit.
A good example is the Raistrick pilot project of 2013, in which archaeology
students produced high quality digital versions of 600 of our maps. We would of
course be open to such partnerships from students at other universities, but as
such activities require us to put in considerable staff time and resources, we give
priority to our own students.
We also see the potential of working with volunteers on external projects – work
which may benefit our collections and users but which may not be carried out onsite. For instance, we are partners with Settle Stories in a project to digitise the
W.R. Mitchell Archive10. If successful, this would involve many volunteers
including Bradford students.
We are also considering the possibilities of using volunteers to enhance
catalogues, based on their personal history or knowledge (discussed in our
Collections Information Policy). The Revisiting Archives11 methodology offers
one way to do this. We believe this is an area that could come to the fore as part
of celebrations of the University’s 50th anniversary.
We offer another kind of access which can be seen as volunteering. Our
stakeholders, who often have extensive networks of connections, support us via
9
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/special-collections/projects/untangling-the--holdens/
10
http://www.wrmitchellarchive.org.uk/
11
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/programmes/revisiting-collections
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advocacy, fundraising or helping us to build collections. In turn, they get the
satisfaction of having supported a service that values collections that matter to
them. We wish to look more strategically at this kind of engagement to make
sure we are making the most of it for all parties concerned.
RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS TO COLLECTIONS
Access to collections is subject to various restrictions. All restrictions are set by
the Special Collections Librarian consulting University or professional experts as
appropriate. They are fully publicised via our website and catalogues.
Restrictions fall into the following groups:
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Legal. See our CIP for details of how we identify and manage such
restrictions.
Preservation reasons. See our CCP for details, surrogacy.
Uncatalogued material. We cannot offer access to uncatalogued archives
because of data protection and security concerns. We may be able to offer
limited access to uncatalogued printed books or addenda to catalogued
archives. Our policy, as explained in the CIP, is to catalogue archives to a
level where they can be safely be made available as quickly as possible.
Only 9% of our archives are completely uncatalogued.
BARRIERS TO ACCESS
We are committed to removing barriers which prevent those who might gain from
the collections seeking them out. Such barriers include geography, cost,
perception (all of which we try to address as already stated) and disability.
Like our parent organisation, we are committed to the social model of disability.
We believe that improvements made for the benefits of disabled people are
helpful to all users. Our audiences include many people who have mobility or
hearing problems and a high proportion of University students have dyslexia or
other learning disabilities. We actively engage with the University’s policies on
equal opportunities and disabilities and seek help from expert colleagues in the
Disability Service12. Staff are encouraged to take advantage of training on
understanding and supporting users with particular disabilities. We also observe
and reflect on the use of our service and encourage users to keep us informed of
any problems they encounter. Some examples of our practice:
The Reading Room has been set up with the needs of disabled users in mind: for
instance, lift access, level floors, space for wheelchair and walking aid access.
While the space is not ideal for all situations, as we operate by appointment only,
we can make other arrangements in our building for users who cannot access the
space (wheelchairs with a very long wheelbase for instance). Accessibility is a
key consideration when arranging events off-site.
12
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/disability/
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
Our website is fully compliant with disability legislation and all documents loaded
are tested for accessibility. This means for instance that our site can be
understood via reading aloud software. We ensure that our other online
platforms are either fully accessible or that we offer alternatives for those who
cannot use them.
Our audience development work will identify barriers and find ways to address
them.
FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS
Special Collections encourages comments and feedback via its website and
offers a formal complaints procedure. We have created an Impact and Feedback
log to capture the helpful comments we receive in thank you emails and are
investigating other ways of managing this information.
SERVICE CONTINUITY
We take service continuity very seriously. Our visitors often have made
expensive arrangements well in advance and their visit can be their only chance
to access our collections. Likewise enquirers and users of other services expect
to receive the services advertised.
Our services depend on the availability of staff, collections, spaces and
technology. The main risks to our mediated services are:
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Transport or weather problems affecting staff (or user) attendance
Industrial action
Staff sickness or other unplanned absence
Resignation of staff member – loss of expertise and probable delay in
recruiting and training replacement
Building issues such as lighting, water leaks
Building works or other maintenance in Library or on campus
University closures such as snow days
Issues with IT managed by the University: email, Meeting Maker, the Library
catalogue, the drives, the content management system/web site.
Issues with third-party IT: social media platforms, Archives Hub, COPAC etc.
Our online unmediated services are vulnerable to the above IT issues. They
would also be affected in the longer term by many of the other risks if protracted
i.e. affecting ability of staff to update resources.
Service continuity is a critical part of our planning. It affects the events we run,
the appointments we take and the way we make services available online. We
maintain service continuity procedures as part of our emergency planning work
(see the Collections Care Policy for more detail on the latter). We also develop
continuity plans for significant access projects, such as major exhibitions.
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Access Policy for Special Collections, University of Bradford
POLICY REVIEW
As explained above, this is an interim policy. We will review it as part of our
summer review of policies and write a new edition whenever changing
technologies, practices and situations render it outdated.
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