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1. the mission of the archives
2. the size of the collection or portion of collection being copied
3. how often the collection or portion thereof is being used

There can't be any standardized rule along these lines because all archives
are differernt.  Some are big, well funded, and well staffed, and therefore,
they can afford such expenditures.  Others are very small and underfunded and
so such large and frequent copying requests can't be met.

Basically, it all boils down to an institution learning from experience what
works and what doesn't, trying new things, improving methods or strategies
that work so they adjust to changing conditions, and ditching whatever
doesn't work.

However, when provisions can't be made for copying large portions of
holdings, we should try to, as Alan said "meet them halfway".  Providing more
reference services, more detailed finding aids, and putting the collections
on the web are all possibilities.  But again, even these added provisions
will be restricted and shaped by the 3 points I mentioned above.

Its a constant struggle, but its necessary.  For if reasonable access to
archival collections cant be granted, whats the point of having them?  I
think we can all agree with that.

-Martin Firestein
Student at Dominican University
River Forest, Illinois

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