NLB, together with its staff, form an important part of our island’s naval history. As custodians we have collected and maintained records and artefacts which have informed and will continue to inform technical, sociological, genealogical, biographical, medical and general historical research. We recognise that we have a strong ‘family based’ culture where the sharing of experience, stories and history are natural and long-embedded behaviours. In order to support this it is important that we consider carefully what should be retained and archived in the public interest.
Much of our archive, including the first Minute Book, are with the National Records of Scotland (NRS). Please contact them directly to arrange a visit.
HM General Register House
2 Princes Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3YY
T: 0131 535 1314
We understand that much of our information and artefacts created and received, include Personal Information retention, of which constitutes ‘processing’ and is therefore covered by the GDPR. In practice, much of our data will be retained indefinitely and archived either in-house or by external bodies such as National Records Scotland (NRS) and the National Library for Scotland, under Data Sharing Agreements.
These items will be kept under suitable environmental conditions to protect them, to maintain the integrity of our history and to inform future research and publication. This will ensure the Information is safe, secure and retained under strict security while still accessible to NLB. Where appropriate some of these externally archived records will remain sealed from public access for a set period of time, based on rules that we have defined.
Data Protection legislation (including GDPR) does not stop us keeping information, or even long term archiving of information as long as it was obtained lawfully, legitimately, reviewed from time to time, relevant, and deleted when no longer needed. NLB is committed to meeting its obligations under the legislation regarding data protection and confidentiality, and we are conscious of the consequences of non-compliance which can include reputational damage, loss of public and stakeholder trust, substantial fines, criminal proceedings and claims for compensation against the organisation and individuals. We understand that we are required to ensure that all personal information is collected and used fairly, lawfully, transparently, safely, and not disclosed to other persons unlawfully. In order to achieve this we have a Data Protection Policy together with NLB focussed training. Together these define how NLB is complying with the principles of the legislation. Within the GDPR there are appropriate exemptions to cover both Archiving in the Public and Journalism. We have agreed with NRS that they are in the best position to guide NLB in defining what should be retained in the ‘Public Interest’ as it is the foundation of what they do.