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Re: Education for Future Reference Archivist



Bill's comments are wonderful, and I will add to them quickly.  In my
experience, each aspect of archiving--fieldwork, processing, cataloging, and
reference--plays a large part in understanding the other areas, so the more
kinds of experience you have archivally, the better you will be at the
reference desk.  I firmly believe that catalogers and processors need to
work the reference desk--not only do these folks have a good knowledge of
what's in the collections, but in order to do their jobs properly, they need
to know how their patrons are using the material.  So whatever you do as an
archivist will make you a better reference archivist.  And Bill's right--you
learn it on the job, so start doing all the archival work you can now as a
student or volunteer.  Good luck!

Sally Childs-Helton, Ph.D.
Special Collections/Rare Books Librarian
Butler University Library
4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46208
317-940-9265

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