Terms of Service
The conditions that govern your use of this digital cultural archive, written to be read rather than skimmed past.
Last updated: 5 June 2024
This archive exists to make Scotland's artistic and Gaelic heritage accessible to anyone who wants to learn from it. These terms set out what we ask of you in return, and what you can reasonably expect from us. They are not buried in legalese on purpose, and we have tried to keep them honest.
Acceptance of Terms
When you browse, search, or otherwise use this site, you agree to the terms laid out on this page. That agreement applies whether you are a casual visitor reading a single article or a researcher returning weekly.
If any part of these terms does not sit well with you, the answer is simple: please do not use the site. Continuing to use it is how you signal that you accept the conditions here.
Acceptable Use
We ask that any information you submit through the site is accurate and offered in good faith. Fabricated submissions, fraudulent details, or attempts to mislead other users undermine the trust this archive depends on.
Do not interfere with the security, integrity, or availability of the site. That covers the obvious things — attempting to breach access controls, probing for vulnerabilities, deploying automated tools that strain the servers, and the less obvious ones, like uploading anything designed to disrupt how the site functions for everyone else.
Activity that is unlawful, abusive, harassing, or defamatory has no place here. We reserve the right to restrict access where such behaviour occurs, and to cooperate with authorities where the law requires it.
Use License
You are welcome to view, read, and download archive content for personal, non-commercial purposes. Read an essay, study a recording, share a link with a colleague — all of that is the point.
What you may not do is redistribute, republish, or commercially exploit the content without written permission. A photograph of a Gaelic festival, a transcribed oral history, an essay on the performing arts: each of these may belong to the archive, to a contributing institution, or to an individual creator who licensed it to us under specific conditions.
Worth knowing: Intellectual property in the materials here remains with the site or its licensors. A licence to view something is not a licence to own it. If you want to reuse material in a publication, exhibition, or teaching resource, get in touch first — we are usually glad to say yes, and we can point you to the rights holder when the work is not ours to grant.
No Warranties
The site and everything in it are provided on an 'as is' and 'as available' basis. We build and maintain this archive with care, but cultural records are messy by nature. Dates get contested. Spellings of place names shift between sources. An oral account recorded decades ago may carry the memory of the teller rather than the precision of a register.
So we do not guarantee that every entry is complete, current, or free of error. Where a date, attribution, or historical claim matters to a decision you are making — academic citation, legal research, genealogical certainty, treat the archive as a starting point and seek independent professional guidance. We would rather you verify than assume.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for damages arising from your use of, or inability to use, the site. This includes indirect, incidental, and consequential losses — lost time, lost data, decisions made on the strength of something you read here.
This is standard for an archive offered freely to the public, and it reflects a practical reality rather than indifference. We invest considerable effort in accuracy, but we cannot underwrite the use anyone makes of the material. The limitation applies to the operator of the site and to its contributors and partners.
Applicable Law
These terms are interpreted under the laws of Scotland and the wider United Kingdom, where the archive is operated. Any dispute that cannot be resolved amicably falls to the competent local courts of that jurisdiction.
If a court finds one of these terms unenforceable, that term is severed and the rest remain fully in force. One faulty clause does not collapse the whole agreement.
Modifications
We revise these terms from time to time — when the law changes, when our practices change, or when something here turns out to be unclear. When we do, we update the revision date shown at the top of this page.
Continuing to use the site after a revision means you accept the updated terms. We would encourage you to glance at this page now and again, particularly if you are a frequent user, so nothing catches you off guard.
Contact Information
Questions about these terms, a request to reuse material, or a concern about something you have found in the archive are all welcome. Reach us through the details on our Contact Us page, and a member of the team will respond.
For how we handle your personal information, see our Privacy Policy. For details on the small files this site stores in your browser, our Cookie Policy sets out the specifics.