Access Policy

The Royal Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage Collection (A&HC) seeks to collect, preserve, maintain and make accessible archive and heritage material relating to Royal Voluntary Service and related organisations.

The collection forms a continuous and developing narrative, which will be added to in accordance with its collection policy, in order to demonstrate the significance and relevance of Royal Voluntary Service to both the past and the present.

The collection will be used by Royal Voluntary Service to publicise the work of the charity, and to provide an educational and heritage resource for the widest possible community.

This policy has been written with reference to the Public Services Quality Group ‘Standard for Access to Archives’.

It is Royal Voluntary Service’s ambition to open access to its collection to the widest possible audience, subject to the restrictions set out in section 3 of this access policy and the Royal Voluntary Service preservation policy. Royal Voluntary Service however does not have to grant access to its A&HC, excepting its obligations under law.

Royal Voluntary Service maintains a publicly accessible online catalogue of selected parts of its collection, including some digitised content. In addition, web pages charting the history of the organisation and educational resources are also available, along with more information about Royal Voluntary Service archives and heritage collections. These are all available via the Royal Voluntary Service website.

All text and images on the Royal Voluntary Service website and online catalogue are for the purposes of non-commercial, private study, and educational purposes only. Any reproduction of material outside these uses will require the permission of Royal Voluntary Service.

Royal Voluntary Service offers a remote enquiry service for users, subject to the conditions set out below.

This service is principally staffed by Royal Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage Collection volunteers who will try to complete all enquiries within 20 working days.  During busy times however, enquiries may take up to 60 working days to complete, and possibly longer in some cases).

Up to a maximum of one hour will be spent dealing with an enquiry and Royal Voluntary Service makes no charge for this. Donations though are welcomed.

Enquiries can be submitted by email or by post.

Email: heritage@royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk

Write to: Enquiries, Royal Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage Collection, Hanley Centre, 29 Charles Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 3JP

Copies of archive material are available through the enquiry services, subject to the conditions set out in section 3.

Royal Voluntary Service does not impose any limits on the number of enquiries any
one user may make in a calendar year. However, enquiries from new users will be prioritised over those from users who have already had an enquiry answered within that calendar year. Additional enquiries from a user may therefore not be able to be answered within the 60 day target.

Due to the nature of historical research and the survival of records, Royal Voluntary Service may not be able to answer your enquiry. The enquiry service is only able to conduct research on material held in the Royal Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage Collection, and not that held by other organisations, businesses or institutions. Where possible, enquirers will be directed to other possible sources of information.

2.4.1 Royal Voluntary Service offers a
commercial research service to enhance
its free enquiry service. Where an
enquiry cannot be completed to a user’s
satisfaction within the hour allocated
under the enquiry service, further
research can be undertaken at the
request of a user.
2.4.2 There is a flat rate charge per hour or part
thereof for this research service, details of
which can be found in section 4 below.
2.4.3 Any work requested as part of this service
will be discussed and agreed with the user
before commencement, including the
amount of time spent and any charges.
2.4.4 Work undertaken as part of the research
service will be completed within ten
working days of a request and payment
being received, excepting where the
amount of work requested exceeds that
practically deliverable within those ten
working days. In such cases a deadline
will be agreed with the user in advance.
The work undertaken in the requested
time will include all aspects of dealing
with your research request, not just the
research itself.
2.4.5 Due to the nature of historical research
and the survival of records, it may be that
despite additional paid for research Royal
Voluntary Service may still not be able to
answer your enquiry. 

2.5.1 On-site access to the Archive & Heritage
Collection is available to the public by
appointment on the first Tuesday and
Wednesday of each month.
2.5.2 The A&HC is located on the first floor of
a rented building. The reading room can
only be accessed by a staircase as there
is no lift. Readers with mobility issues
should contact the A&HC and if necessary
we can arrange access at our alternative
location at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes,
where the same service is available.
2.5.3 Due to space restrictions and staffing
requirements, on site appointments
must be made a minimum of a month
in advance. Access to our collections is
limited to two researchers each day and
visits from new users will be prioritised
over those from users who have already
visited within that calendar year.
2.5.4 All users will be required to provide
photographic ID and proof of address in
order to access the collection on-site.
2.5.5 The use of personal copying devices by
on-site researchers is not permitted.
Copies of original material can be
provided to on site users by the archivist
subject to the conditions outlined in
section 3.2.
2.5.6 Due to Copyright restrictions commercial
use of the archive may be restricted and is
at the discretion of the archivist. For more
details please contact the A&HC using the
details in section 2.3.4 above.

3.1.1 As part of the remote enquiry service,
copies of original material held in the
A&HC can be ordered, subject to the
conditions set out in sections 3.2 and 3.3.
3.1.2 The publicly accessible online catalogue
provides details of selected items held
in the collection, but other non-public
finding aids can be consulted by the
A&HC enquiry team on users’ behalf.
3.1.3 Digitised copies of material held in the
A&HC are available to view both through
the online catalogue and within the pages
of the Royal Voluntary Service website
(see section 2.2.1).
3.1.4 In some instances, users of the A&HC,
both remotely and on site, will be
expected to use digitised versions of
original materials. Requests to view the
originals can however be made.
3.1.5 Original items are not available for loan
except to other museums or archives for
temporary exhibition at the discretion
of the archivist. For more details please
contact the A&HC using the details in
2.3.4.
3.1.6 The loan of duplicate items for film/TV
or other commercial use is by special
arrangement and at the discretion of the
archivist. For more details please contact
the A&HC using the details in 2.3.4 above.

3.2.1 Copies can be provided for non-commercial
and private study purposes for users of
the remote enquiry and research services.
Copies are provided at the archivist’s
discretion and are subject to:
• The physical condition and preservation
needs of the material
• Any intellectual property or copyright
restrictions
• Data Protection restrictions.
Copies are provided without charge.
However, any copies provided will be made
as part of the free hour provided under the
enquiry service. If the amount of copying
required runs over this hour, in order to
access this material to enable the copying
users will be directed to use the paid for
research service detailed in 2.4.
3.2.2 Copies can be provided for on site
researchers for non-commercial and
private study purposes subject to the
same conditions outlined in 3.2.1 above.
Copies for on-site researchers can only be
made by the archivist.
3.2.3 No copies of material will be supplied
without the completion of a copyright
declaration form.
3.2.4 Copies provided through the enquiry or
research service and to on-site users will
be subject to the redaction of personal
information at the discretion of the
archivist, excepting:
• If the request is from the individual
in question
• If Data Protection rules no longer apply.
3.2.5 Royal Voluntary Service provides only
digital copies of material (in pdf form)
excepting where that material is for
publication where high quality image
files (tiffs) will be provided (see section
3.2.6).

3.2.6 Clean digital copies of material are only
made available as high quality image files
(tiffs) for the purposes of publication and
upon request, subject to the restrictions
set out in section 3.3 below. This service
is also subject to the acceptance of the
terms and conditions and the granting of
a licence. There is a charge for this service.
A sliding scale of charges, depending on
licence type, can be found along with the
terms and conditions and an application
form on the Royal Voluntary Service
website. Further details on charging can
also be found in section 4.

3.3.1 Archive material is open if published or
otherwise in the public domain. Other
material is open from 30 years after the
most recent date on the file or document,
but certain restrictions may apply.
3.3.2 The following types of archive material
may have restrictions on them:
• Items subject to Data Protection
restrictions and other personally
sensitive material eg members’ record
cards, or other materials which include
personal details
• Commercial and business
confidential records
• Items which are too fragile to
be handled safely and which are
awaiting conservation
• Unsorted or uncatalogued items
which the archivist considers are
not yet in a usable format
• Items subject to intellectual
property restrictions.

3.3.3 As some material is held in offsite
storage, it may be necessary to order it
in advance for use by on site researchers.
Researchers should give an indication of
what materials they wish to research prior
to their visit to enable offsite materials to
be retrieved. 

3.4.1 The use of Royal Voluntary Service A&HC
content is subject to the following:
• Copyright and intellectual property
limitations must be observed and the
relevant agreements signed by all users
• Publication of copies of Royal Voluntary
Service Archive & Heritage Collection
material is subject to the acceptance
of the terms and conditions and the
granting of a licence
• Publication must include
acknowledgement of
Royal Voluntary Service
• A copy of any publication reproducing
licenced material from the collection
must be deposited with the A&HC.

4.1 Royal Voluntary Service is a registered
charity. As such, all charges made by
Royal Voluntary Service for services
provided by the Archive & Heritage
collection are used to cover our costs so
that Royal Voluntary Service can best use
its resources to accomplish its purpose of:
“inspiring and enabling people to give the
gift of voluntary service to meet the needs
of the day in their communities.”
4.2 Royal Voluntary Service makes charges for
the following services:
• Granting a licence for the publication of
Royal Voluntary Service materials
• Commercial research service.
4.3 Current scales of charges for these
services are available on the Royal
Voluntary Service website and are subject
to change at any time.
4.4 All charges for the services, in section 4.1
above, must be paid in advance, via the
methods laid out on the Royal Voluntary
Service website. Ordered goods will
be dispatched and services completed
within ten working days of confirmation
of receipt of payment, excepting the
circumstances laid out in 2.4.4.
4.5 All charges are levied at the discretion of
the archivist. 

Royal Voluntary Service provides online
resources for teachers which can be
viewed via the Royal Voluntary Service
website, royalvoluntaryservice.org.
uk/schools. Unfortunately, the Royal
Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage
Collection does not currently have
facilities for group visits, talks or other
educational activities, but it is hoped
that this service will be developed in the
longer term.

6.1 Comments and feedback
6.1.1 The Royal Voluntary Service Archive &
Heritage Collection welcomes comments
and feedback on its service. You can write to
us using the details in section 2.3.4. Users
who wish to leave feedback on the enquiry
or research service can do so using our
online survey or by writing to us.
6.2 Complaints
6.2.1 Royal Voluntary Service aims to maintain
high standards in all of its work, but we
recognise that we can sometimes get
things wrong despite our best intentions.
Details of our complaint procedure can
be found on the Royal Voluntary Service
website at: royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/
contact-us/making-a-complaint.
6.2.2 You can make a complaint by telephone,
email or in writing.
Telephone: 0845 608 0122
Email: generalsupport@
royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk
Write to: The Volunteer & General
Support Manager, Royal Voluntary Service,
Beck Court, Cardiff Gate Business Park,
Cardiff, CF23 8RP

7.1 This policy will be reviewed in six months
in the light of user feedback and the
availability of service provision resources.