At the risk of repeating my earlier comment regarding the need for common
sense when it comes to the DP Act...
My original point was that Visitors Books should not just be left lying
around, say in an unmanned foyer, for anybody to be able to leaf through.
Obviously if the book is kept in a manned area there is no need to whip it
out of sight the minute it has been signed.
Perhaps a great deal of this apparent exasperation about the Act is due to
people's tendancy to jump to extreme interpretations when all the Act
actually calls for is good sense and good practice.
Steve Bailey
Team Leader - Archives & Records Management
Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 22 August 2001 11:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: signing in books
I agree with Martin's exasperation. I would have thought that in small or
large offices no one is going to have the opportunity or even the
inclination to examine the signing-in book in detail. Our book is kept at
the desk inches from the staff member on duty.
It appears that the signing-in book have different purposes at record
offices. Ours and I had thought others were mainly there for the purpose of
alerting users to the rules - by signing in they are agreeing to abide by
our rules, ie no eating, drinking, leaning on documents, use pencils only
that sort of thing. We don't use it for statistical purposes as we have
other ways of counting heads.
We have separate registration cards for those readers using archives (we're
a combined library/record office like most authorities in London) and quite
possibly we're falling foul of the DP Act on that but as the Borough doesn't
actually have a DP officer..... I think the counties are way ahead of us on
this one... true?
Best wishes
Kath Shawcross
Borough Archivist and Local Studies Manager
London Borough of Sutton
020-8770 4745
020-8770 4777 FAX
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www.sutton.gov.uk/lfl/heritage
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