Terms and conditions for submissions to the School of Museum Studies Heritage Specialism student archival collecting project

1. Purpose

This document sets out the terms and conditions for contributions to the collecting week element of the Heritage Specialism on the Museum Studies Course. Suitable contributions will become a permanent collection of the University Library’s Archives and Special Collections (“Special Collections”). Contributors will be required to confirm their understanding and accept that their contributions to the archive will be subject to these terms and conditions. These terms and conditions constitute a bespoke deposit agreement under the University Library’s standard terms and conditions for deposit of archives, because of the potential for a large volume of submissions; the fact submissions will be digital, the intention to preserve material in the long term, and the need to ensure certain other information is retained in line with good archival practice.

2. Collecting policy and practice

The University of Leicester Library, (“the Library”), collects archives to support learning, teaching and research at the University of Leicester, (“the University”) and the wider community. Material accessioned into the archives is usually retained permanently.

3. Ownership

Contributions to the collection will be treated as a gift to the University (i.e., ownership, not including copyright is transferred). If a participant does not wish to gift the material, they should not submit it.

4. Standard terms and conditions

The University reserves the right not to retain any contributions not considered to be of sufficient historical value to the Archives.

The University reserves the right not to retain any contributions it deems violates or potentially violates the legal rights of any person or are otherwise unlawful for it to hold.

The University will hold the name and contact details of contributors in order to facilitate management of the archives. The University is registered with the Data Protection Register - and undertakes to process the data it holds on depositors lawfully. The name of the contributor may be included in finding aids for researchers. Full contact details for the contributor will not be released to third parties without the permission of the individual concerned. It is the responsibility of the contributor to contact the University of Leicester Archives and Special Collections team about any changes in contact details.

The University reserves the right to create preservation copies of the archives and to store these in its digital preservation infrastructure.

Where the University receives requests from researchers for copies of material, Special Collections staff will abide by copyright and other relevant legislation (see section 8 below).

5. Cataloguing and production of finding aids

A professionally qualified archivist will oversee the sorting, arrangement, appraisal and description of the collected material in accordance with professional good practice and standards. Cataloguing work on new deposits will be undertaken as resources allow and in accordance with the service’s cataloguing prioritisation formula.

The name of the contributor(s) will be publicised unless otherwise requested. Copyright in catalogues and finding aids, both manual and electronic, will remain with the University.

The University of Leicester reserves the right to publish finding aids on the web or by any means deemed appropriate, including sharing catalogue data with other discovery platforms such as the Archives Hub or The National Archives’ Discovery platform.

6. Insurance and liability

Nothing in these terms and conditions shall limit or exclude the University’s liability for death or personal injury, or any fraud caused by its negligence.

The University shall have no liability whatsoever, (whether in contract, tort or otherwise), for any indirect or consequential loss (including but not limited to pure economic loss, loss of profits, loss of business or goodwill) howsoever caused.

The contributor shall indemnify and hold harmless the University against any and all actions, claims, costs (including legal costs and expenses), damages, demands or liabilities brought against, suffered or incurred by the University arising out of the deposit of the material and/or ownership claims by any third party relating to the deposit.

7. Access

Public access to the collection is subject to any statutory restrictions and closure periods. Archives and Special Collections reserves the right to refuse archives with permanent closure periods on the grounds that research will be impossible.

Researchers will be given basic guidance on compliance with legislation restricting access and will be personally liable for any infringement of the law.

The University supports research, service delivery and promotion of its archives by digital means. Promotion of the collection may take place through exhibitions, printed material such as leaflets, guides or newsletters, the placement of content on the University website, the dissemination of content with press releases to promote University events and activities or by any other method the University believes is appropriate.

8. Copyright, reproduction, and publication

In order to facilitate use of the deposited material by the University and future researchers, copyright to newly created content submitted by contributors will be retained by the depositor but the University will be able to freely use the content in publications and online.

Archives will be copied by the University in compliance with copyright legislation and in-house guidance. The University will not be liable for any abuse of copyright made by users of the copying service.

The University reserves the right to publish in whole or in part any contributions to the project within University of Leicester publications.

Unless otherwise stated, all patents, trademarks, service marks, registered designs, unregistered design rights and all other intellectual property rights, whether registered or unregistered and including all applications and rights to apply for any of the same shall remain with their owners for the duration of this agreement.

9. Data protection and other legislation affecting archive collections

The University shall be responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 or the General Data Protection Regulation or the data protection regime that is in force at the relevant time.

Subject to certain conditions, the Data Protection Act permits the keeping of archives indefinitely for historical or other research.

The University will not be held liable for use made of archives by the original creators or owners should the records be unlawfully processed.

All contributions to the 2024 Heritage Module collection will be subject to the privacy notices for holding archives in the Archives and Special Collections and holding information relating to researchers or depositors of collections.