Archives and collections policies

Birmingham Archives and Collections is the professional archives service for Birmingham City Council and maintains a repository for the storage and custody of its own records and any records deposited with it, and, which has the following statutory powers:

• to contain the official and public archives of the Council and has been appointed by the Lord Chancellor as the local place of deposit for certain classes of central government archives under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967.
• is approved by the master of the rolls for the deposit of manorial and other documents.
• has been appointed by the Bishop of Birmingham as a Diocesan Record Office for diocesan and parochial records.
• is empowered under the Local Government (Records) Act 1962 to accept privately owned records by way of donation, purchase, or deposit. 

All records received are held for the benefit of the public.

Alongside the core activities of customer service and developing collections, Archives and Collections at the Library of Birmingham makes important contributions to the city in areas such as skills and employability, community engagement, health and wellbeing, and tourism.

You can read our policies on:

• Access to the service, both remotely and on-site
• Care and conservation of our collections
• Development of our collections, including acquisition and disposal of material
• Exhibitions and loans of our work
• Preservation of our digital collections

Page last updated: 8 August 2023