[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: HELP! Adventures in Starting a New Archive!



Ok here is what ive done since Wednesday:

1) emailed or called every member of the administration and all of the
deans of the departments.  Only one has responded but its a start.

2) Set up a meeting that includes members (every department has someone who
is interested in the archive) from every department.  My hope is to get
introduced to the departments and to spark some excitement.  So far noone
has submitted any material to the archive.  I hope this meeting can begin
that flow.

3)I have read, read some more, and then read even more on archival
policies, missions, and management.  I am still a little overwhelmed and
confused but i figure it will make more sense once i am able to dive in
more fully.

4) I met with the marketing department today.  They have a huge collection
of photos that they would like organized and preserved.  However they want
to keep them in their department and not in the archive.  I got them to
agree to keep copies in the archive and then they could safely store the
negatives.  Organizing them is going to be tedious.  They have all of the
negatives seperated from the photos.  I want a system where by someone
could go through the photos (in the archive) and then order a print made
through the marketing dept.  But each photo has to be matched to its
negative and then a filing system has to be arranged so that one could
easily find the negative that matches the photo so that prints could be
made.  Also some of the photos can not be reprinted due to copyright
problems so they will ahve to either be filed seperate or specialy marked
somehow.  What is the best solution here?

5) So far i am unsure about where the college wants to go with this.  The
Person who started the project ( the Director of the Library) wants this to
be a permanant fixure.  So far that is up in the air.  Since the future of
the program is in question it is hard for me to know what to plan for.  I
could develop a records management strategy for the school but if i or
another archivist is not there in a year to handle the new aquisitions then
whats the point...Many of your questions could not even be answered by the
person who hired me.  My belief is that the Board is waiting to see useful
the archive will be and what kinds of benefits can be gained before they
decide to make this a permanant position.  So, i think its up to me to
dazzle them with the wonderous opportunities an archive can provide a
college.


Thank you all for your input.  It has been an immense help!

I will check in with more questions soon

thanks again

Matt Rauscher *slowly getting the hang of this*

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>