ACCESS POLICY
Name of governing body: Trustees of the Porthmadog Maritime Museum
Date of approval: September 2015
Introduction
This policy will guide the Museum’s approach to providing access to the collection and associated information.
The Museum has a clear commitment to enable access for everyone for enjoyment, education and research by everyone within the reasonable constraints of resources, security and conservation.
Ethics and legislation
The Museum will be guided by the:
- ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums
- Museum Association Code of Ethics
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
- Data Protection Act 1998
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995
- Equality Act 2010
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
- Intellectual Property Act 2014
- Welsh Language Act
Access Assessments
The Museum is committed to assessing, identifying and addressing access issues by means of checking current access arrangement and by seeking advice from relevant local bodies i.e. groups working with the disabled.
User Needs
The Management Committee and the volunteers understand that groups of users may have different needs, and there is a commitment to reducing the barriers to both physical and intellectual access to the collection. The experience of working with groups of physically disabled users, or young people and having a special understanding of language barriers helps volunteers to appreciate the need for, and develop skills and different approaches to provide a positive experience at the Museum. Examples of how this operates:
- there is easy access for wheelchairs and for space to move around
- object description and interpretation can easily be read and is in the Welsh and English languages.