Collections Information Policy

Leeds Museums and Galleries is committed to protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of others. We also seek to protect, enhance and realise the commercial value of our own intellectual property in support of the mission of our service and in compliance with IPR legislation.

Overview

The information about each item within the collection is central to being accountable for the collections, their accessibility, management, use, research and study. We are committed to ensuring the information we hold relating to the collections is accurate, secure, reliable and accessible. It is our aim to manage all our information and data in a responsible, secure and accessible manner so that it can be used for all required purposes.

Legal framework

We will adhere to all national and international statutes of law, including specifically, but not exclusively, in relation to information management the Freedom of Information Act (2000), Data Protection Act (2018) and Environmental Information Regulation (2004).

This policy has been written in line with Leeds City Council’s policies on information management.

Ethical framework

We will follow national standards, ethical codes and best practice guidelines including, but not exclusively, BS ISO 14721 Space data and information transfer systems, BS ISO 15836 information and documentation the Dublin Core metadata element set, BS ISO 15489 information and documentation records management, Spectrum 4.0 guidelines and LMG’s Intellectual Property Rights Policy.

Information held on the collections is in a variety of forms. Historically the records have been paper based, more recently we have been moving to more and more electronic and digital media records through use of a computerised collections management system. We are committed to providing and maintaining physically and for long term preservation collections information to all records whether paper or computerised, to operate a collections management system that enables access and efficient retrieval of the information held, to backing up and storing records securely in line with legislation, Leeds City Council policy and best practice.

Digital preservation is the process of active management required to ensure continued and reliable access to authentic digital records. This is a rapidly changing area as technology continually advances. This policy makes explicit our commitment to addressing the challenges surrounding the preservation of digital records in our collections. We recognise the need to develop sustainable but flexible strategies for managing all digital records which come into our care and those we create. We seek to follow emerging national and international standards and best practice in the field of digital preservation including long term accessibility of electronic systems.

We recognise that our data and information is of considerable interest to a wide range of audiences and it is our aim to maximise access to our information as far a possible within the law and ethical guidelines. We are committed to public use and to improving accountability for the collections, to maintaining professional standards in collections information and documentation, extending access to collection information and strengthening the security of the collections within available resources.

Where information is confidential we are committed to maintaining confidentiality.