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Re: HELP! Adventures in Starting a New Archive!



Matt,

My initial advice was to quit while you are ahead! However, on second
thought, let me ask a question that may be useful in helping you. Who hired
you? (If the board isn't interested in an archive, who is?) What is your
supervisor's position? What do "they" (whoever that is) anticipate down the
line? Do "they" understand that maintaining an archive is an ongoing
proposition? (I once had a well-meaning person say that if I got everything
in order then someone with a high school education could surely keep it
going!) You clearly need a powerful ally within the organization for
starters.

Thelma Boeder, an archivist operating on a 10 hour/week shoestring in one
position and 24 hours in another
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Rauscher <mjrausc@ILSTU.EDU>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Thursday, January 20, 2000 2:53 PM
Subject: HELP! Adventures in Starting a New Archive!


>Hello all!
>
>I am in desperate need of help.  I am a grad student who has been hired by
a
>community college to setup their archive.  I have some experience working
in
>the field (IRAD Intern and work with another small archive) but feel a bit
>overwhelmed by the expectations of the college.  Here are some of my
>concerns:
>
>1) They want a budget for the archive by early February (I have no idea on
>this one.  Only three people have submitted their inactive materials so
>far. Thus, i have no real grasp of how large of a project i am looking at
>yet.)
>
>2) The college is getting a new campus sometime at the end of this year and
>by that time they would like the entire archive assembled (not necessarily
>processed).  The problem is that they only have enough money to pay me for
>10 hours a week and i will have no work area until the new campus opens (at
>the moment i am sharing a desk with 4 other people).  Any time saving tips?
>
>3) So far i have received a wide varietyu of materials ranging from cd's
>and discs to christmas orniments with the colleges logo on them.  The
school
>had visions of this being a paperless archive (put all documents on cdrom)
>but after discussing how much it would cost to update software every 5-8
>years they backed down on this one.  Any suggestion on what to do with the
>elecronic media i have already been given?
>
>4) I talk to my supervisor on a daily basis about getting the Board to sign
>off on the legitimacy of the archive but so far have not gotten a good
>response to that.  They agreed to look into it but how can i convince them
>that making the archive the an official body of the college is very
>important to gaining cooperation from the departments?
>
>Well i think thats about it for now...Help me if you can!
>
>Thanks
>
>Matt Rauscher
>newbie archivist
>
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>Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>