Using Archives

Copyright is a legal right over "intellectual property"

It restricts the right to reproduce any original work by an individual or organisation. Permission from the copyright owner must be sought to reproduce/publish their work. The records in the County Archive can be consulted for private study or research but copyright permission must be sought if you intend to reproduce or publish any of the archives in the County Archive.
In the case of the local authority records in the County Archive you can apply to the Archivist for permission to publish. The County Archive may not hold copyright ownership on private collections and you are responsible for gaining copyright permission to reproduce or publish from these collections and for any failure to comply with copyright legislation. A copy of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 can be found online on the website of the Irish Statute Book at www.irishstatutebook.ie
The images used on the website are copyright and cannot be used without permission.  The County Archive has made every effort to acknowledge copyright owners and the Archivist would appreciate it if any copyright owner not acknowledged on the website would get in contact so that this can be rectified.

Accessing Personal Information

Waterford County Archives Services holds collections of records that sometimes contain personal information about individuals and it is the policy of Waterford County Archives Service not to release any personal information until 100 years old. This is in compliance with the Data Protection Act, 1988 and the Data Protection (Amendment) Act, 2003.

It can be tempting to assume that when a record is closed to access there are deep, dark secrets being hidden but personal information can simply refer to the name and address of a person.

The goal of the Archives Services is to provide access to information and in the case of personal information it is still possible to access these records provided you are the person to whom they relate or that you have the permission of the person to whom they relate. If the person to whom the records relate is deceased then you must provide evidence in the form of their Death Certificate to gain access to the records. If you are researching your family history and you would like to access records you believe relate to your family then you must provide the evidence of your research showing your connection to the person/s in the records.

The Archives Service will facilitate researchers in as far as possible to help identify if the records relate to their family but cannot provide access to personal information without certainty that the records are definitely relating to the family in question. In cases where this is uncertain the records will not be accessible.

If you have any queries about accessing personal information or any of the collections in the Archives please contact the Archivist at archivist@waterfordcoco.ie