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fixed archival responsibility - reprise



> If even ARL librarians do not know or care what archival work
> is, what hope do we have of ever making the general public aware of the
> role of archives in society?

I have been working cheek to jowls with librarians for the past year (not
here at SLAC, but at another job). Don't despair, I have found that the
general public has more understanding and respect for what happens in
archives than the librarians. The users recognize that circulation is bad
for unique material--the librarians view checking stuff out as the
ultimate in public service rather than the disservice to the future users
it is.

I believe that part of it has to do with the fact that I am in the tech
services department where they have an item-focussed work style. It has
taken a year to get to the point where they recognize that archives are
different in so far as they are a mix of what the librarians view as two
different departments--tech services and public services. Now on to the
"cataloging" battle... no, please do not barcode the archives' copy of the
program to the annual musical, an ephemeral item at best.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Laura O'Hara                            Tel: 650.926.8584
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center      Fax: 650.926.5371
Archives and History Office             e-mail: lohara@slac.stanford.edu
P.O. Box 4394 MS 82                     http://www.slac.stanford.edu/history
Stanford, CA 94309

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