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Privacy, Openness and Archives in the Public Domain

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Privacy, Openness and Archives in the Public Domain Northumbria Research Link Citation: Silvanus, Genevieve (2018) Privacy, openness and archives in the public domain. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/39779/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html Privacy, openness and archives in the public domain Genevieve Laura Silvanus PhD 2018 Privacy, openness and archives in the public domain Genevieve Laura Silvanus A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the Faculty of Engineering & Environment October 2018 Abstract This research investigates the issues surrounding access to archives at non-national archives in England with a multi-stakeholder perspective. Using a combination of focus groups with non-managerial archivists, academic researchers, non-professional family and local historians and a series of semi-structured interviews with leading experts, it attempts to show the issues in the “real world” rather than an idealised one. The results suggest that archivists are working under severe pressure from external forces beyond their control. These include financial, managerial and political pressures, which in turn affect all aspects of archives from location within an organisation to the ethos of the archive, to detail in catalogues and opening hours. Archives typically hold legacy collections, and must balance the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including depositors, those mentioned in the records and users. Archivists cannot therefore allow the access they should theoretically be able to, but individuals often allow as much access as is practicable within these constraints. The users, however, interpreted this as preferential access. Indeed, both user groups felt strongly that archivists granted preferential access to academic researchers and those with whom they had built a relationship. The importance of personality (of archivists and researchers), trust and relationships in promoting access and building collections was demonstrated throughout. Indeed, these human aspects were shown to be as important as the legal framework and ethical codes in determining levels of access to records. Misunderstandings between users and archivists were evidenced repeatedly, many of which could possibly have been prevented by greater transparency and communication. This research is unique as it does not focus on only one type of user, but asked similar questions to archivists, family historians and academic researchers allowing these conclusions to be drawn. The scope is also unique as it focuses on ‘typical’ local authority and university archives rather than those of international standing or national level archives. Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 15 2.2 Legal framework ........................................................................................................ 16 2.2.1 The public domain ............................................................................................................ 21 2.2.2 The rule of law .................................................................................................................. 24 2.3 Openness .................................................................................................................. 27 2.3.1 Access ................................................................................................................................ 27 2.3.2 Equality of access ............................................................................................................ 28 2.3.3 Differential access ............................................................................................................ 29 2.4 Privacy ...................................................................................................................... 38 2.4.1 The right to be forgotten and the right to be remembered ......................................... 47 2.5 Technology ................................................................................................................ 49 2.6 Trust .......................................................................................................................... 52 2.7 Power ........................................................................................................................ 55 2.8 Relationships ............................................................................................................. 60 2.9 Summary of Literature Review ................................................................................... 64 Chapter 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 66 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 66 3.2 Research paradigm ................................................................................................... 66 3.3 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................... 67 3.4 Research design ........................................................................................................ 69 3.5 Ethics ........................................................................................................................ 71 3.6 Literature review ........................................................................................................ 71 3.7 Interviews .................................................................................................................. 73 3.7.1 Design, participants and questions ................................................................................ 73 3.7.2 Impact of interviews on focus group design ................................................................. 74 3.8 Focus Groups ............................................................................................................ 75 3.8.1 Design ................................................................................................................................ 75 3.8.2 Composition and location of focus groups ................................................................... 76 3.8.3 Questions for Focus Groups ........................................................................................... 79 3.8.4 Pilot ..................................................................................................................................... 79 3.9 Limitations and strengths ........................................................................................... 80 1 3.10 Transcribing, coding and analysis ............................................................................ 81 3.11 Trustworthiness of the data...................................................................................... 82 Chapter 4 Findings ......................................................................................................................... 84 4.1 Interviews .................................................................................................................. 84 4.1.2 Similarities and differences between Interviews .......................................................... 86 4.2. Focus Groups ........................................................................................................... 89 4.2.1 FG1: Archivists ................................................................................................................. 89 4.2.2 FG2: Users, family and local historians ........................................................................ 92 4.2.3 FG3: Users, academic researchers ............................................................................... 94 4.2.4 Similarities and differences between Focus Groups................................................... 96 4.3 Themes selected for discussion ................................................................................. 99 Chapter 5 Discussion of the issues of access and closure within archives ................ 103 5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................
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