Peterborough Local Studies and Archives Service
Collections Information Policy
1 Introduction to Peterborough Local Studies and Archives Service
Peterborough Local Studies and Archives Service aims to identify, collect and preserve
the documentary heritage of Peterborough and to make it available for use both now and
in the future.
All the material held within Peterborough Local Studies and Archives Service is donated
or deposited to Peterborough City Council. The care and management of the material is
the responsibility of Vivacity Culture and Leisure.
2 Summary of Collections Information Policy
Our collections are at the heart of everything we do and accurate information and
documentation is key to the success of this part of our mission. This policy outlines what
information we will keep at which stages of the cataloguing process.
3
Accessioning
3.1. Archives will not be accepted by the service without documentation completed
upon receipt of the items.
3.2. This information forms the legal basis upon which Peterborough City Council
holds archival collections.
3.3. All forms must include the name, address and contact details of the individual
depositing the material, as well as the organisation they are representing (if
appropriate), a description of the material, the extent and information on
previous owners and archival history.
3.4. Anonymous donations are not permitted, although the service may accept that
certain information should be kept confidential.
3.5. The legal title to the material is of utmost importance. Potential donators and
depositors should have the benefits and risks of each form of transfer outlined
to them. In as many cases as possible, donation should be favoured. The
service can only purchase records in extremely rare circumstances.
3.6. All donations are considered to include intellectual property rights, unless
otherwise indicated.
3.7. Any special closure periods must be agreed in writing with Archives staff.
3.8. All accessions information will be transferred and held on CALM.
3.9. The completed accessions forms, depositor correspondence and the CALM
output will be retained indefinitely in hard copy format.
3.10. Lists of accessions will be sent annually for addition to the National Register of
Archives.
4
Cataloguing
4.1. All collections will be catalogued according to the Collections Information plan
and procedures.
4.2. The standard for cataloguing will be the International Standard for Archival
Description (General) (ISAD(G)) with mandatory elements as a minimum.
4.3. Very small collections may be catalogued at collection level only, but all other
catalogues should be multi-level.
4.4. No person or subject indexing is carried out on collections, although this policy
may be revisited in the future.
4.5. If a collection is a deposit, all material earmarked for disposal at appraisal will
be offered back to the depositor. If a donation this is not necessary but may be
done as a courtesy.
4.6. All material disposed of at the appraisal stage will be documented on disposal
forms and noted on the accessions record.
4.7. Digital records will be listed on CALM in the same way as analogue records.
This element of the policy may be revisited.
4.8. Some collections may have restricted access due to Data Protection
legislation, advice from The National Archives and Information Commissioner,
or stipulations from the depositor. In these instances the closure will be noted
on the catalogue and also on the packaging of the item.
4.9. As soon as a collection is completed it will be set to go live on the online
catalogue, and a notification of a new collection being available will be placed
on our website. Hard copy catalogues will be produced at regular intervals.
Links through to completed catalogues will be sent to the National Register of
Archives annually.
5 Revision of the document
This document will be revised every five years, or sooner if appropriate.
Last revision: May 2015
Date of next revision: May 2020