Embargoes
An embargo closes a unit of description to the public for a time: a donor's restriction for 25 years, a file held back for privacy, a series closed during a legal hold. It is lifted on the day it ends, or by hand.
Kinds of embargo
| Kind | What it withholds |
|---|---|
| Full | The unit and everything about it |
| Description only | The description; nothing of it is public |
| Files withheld | Its files, while its description stays public |
| No master | Its master files, while the viewing copies stay public |
Imposing one
On a unit's page, add an embargo:
- Choose its kind and its reason: a donor restriction, copyright, privacy, legal, commercial, research, cultural, security or other.
- Give the dates it runs from and until; leave the end empty for it to last until lifted.
- Write what the public catalogue says while it is in force, such as Closed until 2051 at the donor's request, and a note for staff.
- Set when to review it, every so many months, and how many days before it ends to be warned.
- Choose whether to impose it on everything inside it too, each unit then carrying an embargo of its own.
- Impose.
An embargo takes effect at once: the public catalogue, the API, OAI-PMH, IIIF, ResourceSync, the SPARQL store and every public export stop showing what it withholds.
Exceptions
An embargo can let some people through: a range of IP addresses, such as the reading room's computers, an account, or everyone with a role. Add an exception with who it is for, from when and until when.
Lifting
An embargo with an end date is lifted by itself on that day; the daily run lifts every one that has ended and notes it in the audit log. Lift ends one early, with a note of why.
The list
Embargoes (/embargoes) lists every embargo in force, what it withholds, why and until when, and those ending within 30 days, so a review can be planned before material opens.