All members of the public wishing to use Wirral Archives must first consult the policy below.
Visitors will be asked to place their bags in a secure locker on arrival at Wirral Archives.
All members of the public must sign the Visitors’ book on entering the Search Room. By doing so, they are agreeing to adhere to the Search Room Procedures, and are also making a record of their presence in the case of a fire or other emergency. They must also sign out when they leave.
If users wish to consult original documents, they must complete and sign a Document Request Slip.
Users may only consult three documents at any one time and all documents must be returned to the trolley after they have been used.
No documents may be removed by users from the Search Room and the Archivist has the right to restrict access to certain documents if they are too fragile to consult.
The items will be kept on a trolley and the user will only have one item on their desk at any one time, to ensure that the items are not mixed up or go back in the wrong folder or box.
During normal opening hours (Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm) at least one member of staff will be present to answer enquiries and ensure that the documents are handled appropriately.
Retrieval Time
Wirral Archives has a target for retrieval of documents from the strong room of 5 minutes. In practice it takes a considerably shorter time than this.
Closure Periods
Wirral Archives operates closure periods on some records because of the sensitivity of the information that they contain. These closure periods can either be statutory or at the request of a depositor. Further information can be found in the Closure Periods Guidance.
If you would like to request access to closed records, please complete an Access to Closed Records form. However, please note that in most cases the closure will be upheld.
Loans
Original documents cannot be removed from Wirral Archives without the permission of the owner and the approval of the Archivist. If the removal is temporary, an approximate date of return must be agreed and appropriate arrangements must be made for the safe transfer of archives to and from Wirral Archives.
Responsibility and Review
The overall responsibility for the implementation, monitoring and review of this policy rests with the Archivist.
This policy will be reviewed every two years, in order to take into consideration any changes in the service.