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staples, paperclips and stamps



Dear Fellow Archivists

I have been asked by my director to research the cost effectiveness of having
a member of our clerical staff go through unprocessed materials prior to the
processing archivist and remove all paper clips, staples, rubber bands and
other unwanted fasteners.  The thought here is that this will save the more
expensive and valuable time of the processing archivist by using the less
expensive time of the clerical staff.

We are currently beginning the processing of an enormous collection which we
have 3 full time and 2 part time processors working on.  The clerical worker
would probably spend the better part of their time doing this in order to
stay ahead of the processors.  We have also started to use a stamp to write
the collection name on the top of every folder.  Again i have been asked
whether or not the clerical staff should be doing this and stock piling the
folders so that the processing staff does not get bogged down with these
menial tasks.

i know that this might sound like a prank request but it was put out to me in
all honesty by my director who by the way is not an archivist.  For the
record i am against the clerical staff removing the fasteners for a variety
of reasons.  What usually works to prove a point though is the opinion of my
fellow archivists.  So any thoughts on this matter would be greatly
appreciated.


Sincerely
Clipped and stapled

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