Collecting and Documentation Policy
Collecting Targets
1. The Scottish Borders Memory Bank will collect the memories of any individuals or groups of people living now, who have a link of some kind with the Scottish Borders.
2. The collection and recording process will strive to ensure that every area of the Scottish Borders has an equal chance of representation.
3. The Memory Bank is concerned with people and with making a record of their life experiences as linked to the Scottish Borders. The Memory Bank will focus on various themes which will act as guidelines to ensure as wide a range of life experiences is covered as possible. For example, home life, health, politics, leisure, parenthood, fashion and taste, work, etc.
4. The Memory Bank wants to include the memories of as many kinds of people connected to the Scottish Borders as possible. The collection process will be continually reviewed to make sure that all kinds of groups and individuals have an opportunity to be represented in the collection.
5.The collection of records for the Memory Bank will follow a particular procedure, each recording venture to be administered as a separate project.
6. The Scottish Borders Memory Bank is committed to collecting records of contemporary life experiences as well as retrospective living memories.
7. As the material collected by the Memory Bank will be generated by particular projects, there will not be an overlap or duplication of the work carried out by other established institutions. The Memory Bank will not collect material that is more fittingly collected by the museums or local history archives. The Memory Bank will actively seek partnership with related organisations to ensure compatible and complementary collecting policies.
8. The Memory Bank should be both proactive and reactive in its approach to collecting. It should actively go out into the community and record the life experiences of people linked to the region as systematically and comprehensively as possible, in line with the previous policy statements. On the other hand, the Memory Bank should strive to accommodate as many community-generated projects as possible within the necessary physical and financial constraints.
Methods of Collecting
9. In the context of the individual recording projects, the Memory Bank will generate the collection of records in the most appropriate medium possible; this could include, audio recording, video recording, written material, objects, documents, photographs and expressive art.
10. The Memory Bank will develop and support projects that will benefit all participants. Therefore, the collection process must be designed to excite and interest the community that is generating the project. The means of collecting has to be valued as much as the ends.
11. Wherever possible, the Memory Bank will make a magnetic or digital copy of all the material needed to document a memory or life experience. The original material will remain with the rightful owners, unless the Memory Bank specifically requests permission to borrow originals for exhibition/ display purposes.
12. At the beginning of any project, the Memory Bank will establish an agreement between all participants, whereby the Memory Bank has permission to use the material collected in a way that allows the Memory Bank to function effectively as a public resource and to fulfil its aims and objectives. Copyright of original records will rest with the contributors. In special cases, anonymity will be respected.
Partnerships in Collecting
13. Where circumstances are mutually beneficial the Memory Bank will enter into partnership with other organisations. The Memory Bank will establish an agreement between the partners, whereby the Memory Bank has permission to use the material collected in a way that allows the Memory Bank to function effectively as a public resource and to fulfil its aims and objectives. Partnership organisations will be allowed full access to the stored records.
14. There are already many collections of people’s living memories in the Scottish Borders, collected in a variety of media. With the appropriate permissions and working in partnership with the owners of the collections, the Memory Bank will undertake to create a database that will note and describe these existing collections. The resulting database will be a useful resource and will also provide valuable guidelines for future collecting projects. Documentation and Storage
Documentation and Storage
15. All material collected for the Memory Bank will be stored, registered and documented in appropriate environments according to accepted standards of practice.
16. The Memory Bank is intended as an on-going project and the lifetime of digitally recorded material is not as yet known. The Memory Bank undertakes to keep up-to-date with new technologies and to build in procedures for the continued preservation of records in its care.
17. The Memory Bank is intended as an on-going project, if circumstances should change the Memory Bank undertakes that all material and records in its care should be able to be incorporated into existing institutions. This can be achieved by the early establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships and by not undertaking projects that require substantial, permanent physical resources.
This Collecting and Documentation Policy will be reviewed at 6 month intervals.
Members of the original Collecting and Documentation Policy Team were:
Chairman - Ian Brown:
Senior Museums Curator SBC; Memory Bank
Iain Macaulay:
Arts Development Officer SBC
John Dent:
Archaeology and Countryside Officer SBC
Marjorie Hutton:
Community Education Officer SBC
Richard White:
SBC Museums Service (Hawick)
Ros Brown:
Principal Librarian, SBC Library Service
Rose Watban:
Curator of 20th Exhibition, National Museums of Scotland
Shona Sinclair:
SBC Museums Service (Selkirk & Galashiels)
Walter Elliot:
Writer, broadcaster and local historian
Wendy Ball:
Project Co-ordinator, Memory Bank
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