Catalogue titles and descriptions

Considerations when devising titles and descriptions for material that may contain sensitivities

Closed and restricted material

Care should be taken over titles and descriptions for sensitive records and the following rules followed:

• Titles and descriptions must not disclose the information which has caused the item to be closed or restricted. Remember to consider the surrounding context of a record.

• Anonymise titles that include identifying data.

• Consider whether there are legal restrictions on releasing information in the title/description. For instance, the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 require the identity of victims of rape and some other sexual offences to be protected during the lifetime of the victims; the Adoption Act 1976 requires the link between birth and adoptive parents to be kept confidential; non-disclosure clauses in contracts may prohibit dissemination of certain information for a specified length of time.

Examples

Titles

"Tom Taylor" in the series "Incest files" becomes "Case File T"

“Patient File: Anne Smith” becomes “Patient File: Patient A”

Inflammation of the arm of a fifteen year old girl with a cold allergy. Watercolour by Barbara E. Nicholson, 1946. (31308i)

Descriptions

PP/MLV/C/23/6a: Wood, Mrs

Description: "request for advice from Marthe Vogt on treatment of pain"

[does not mention the medical condition or other medical details given in the item]

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Open material

Most open material should follow the guidance provided in the relevant cataloguing manual for the creation of titles and descriptions. However there are some circumstances where it may be inappropriate to include personal data in the title or description.

Catalogue metadata is available online and indexed by search engines, giving it far wider accessibility and discoverability than information contained in the records. Cataloguers should consider whether it is appropriate to include personal data in the catalogue when it will result in such wide dissemination as the internet provides. In some cases it may be appropriate to exclude personal data, such as names, from titles and descriptions.

Examples

Creators are not named

SA/MAR: Migraine Art Competition consists of 545 paintings submitted to the four Migraine Art Competitions that ran from 1980-1987.

The material is not held in a structured filing system and was not created as part of a medical record or in a clinical setting. However, the paintings were created by people who experienced migraines and created the paintings based on their experiences. Previously the images have always been published anonymously, with only the competition winners being named. It is not known whether consent was given for the names of other participants to be made public

Decision: the majority of paintings are open but the creators are not named in the catalogue title or description (they are in the sensitivity description field for future release or when answering enquiries). Paintings that include additional personal data (such as DOBs) are restricted.

Adamson collection (works catalogued after 2023)

Over 4000 artworks created by patients at Netherne Hospital during sessions supervised by Edward Adamson. The artworks were created in a clinical setting, but not as part of an individual's medical record or for diagnosis purposes. The creators did not give consent to exhibit or document their works, nor was there any expectation that this would happen. The only personal data present are the artists' names and no patient records or other information such as date or place of birth, age etc. are known to exist within our collections.

Decision: the remaining works in the collection will be catalogued using initials for the creators, rather than names.

Creators are named

Adamson collection (works catalogued before 2023)

The works in the Adamson collection that were catalogued by Wellcome prior to 2023 included names in the titles. The collection has since been well publicised and used, and the names of the artists can be reasonably seen to be in the public domain and can no longer be protected.

Decision: catalogue records will retain artist names in the titles and descriptions.