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Re: institutional patronage



It is important to realize that as research institutions, the use of our
collections depends a great deal on the whims and vagaries of users
as to their personal quests for information.   One year might be a
heavy use year because it is the state centennial, and another year
might be a heavy demand because it is a railroad anniversary.

Many genealogists believe that once they have visited a repository,
they don't need to visit again.   It is hard for them to recognize that
our resources DO change, but equally we don't do as good a job at
identifying those changes.   It is also hard to track users.  I have folks
who wil ask 'what's new' and their last visit might be one year, five
years, or one week ago.

I have noticed declines in usage due to (a) weather--too hot, too cold,
threat of hurricanes; (b) gasoline prices; (c) worry about events--Y2K,
for example; etc.    I have tried to gauge our use to see if there is a
steady line or core but without success.

I also do believe that the internet is affecting our use quite heavily
because of the common myth that "everything" is on the internet.
I'm finding users are not checking sources on the internet, so
if a person titles a piece "Florida Censuses" the user doesn't read
the fine print ...they assume this is everything, their name isn't
there.  Okay, go on to something else.

I believe we have to constantly keep our users informed of our
collections, changes, etc., and that is a tall order.

Dean

Dean DeBolt
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
John C. Pace Library
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338

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