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Re: institutional patronage



Here at Illinois State University we have experienced a significant
increase in patronage over the last few years.  Partly that is my campaign
of personal contacts across campus.  I taught for 30 years here and so I
know some faculty. We are a small shop and we give great personal service.
It is also true that we are enjoying a growth of interest in University
history.  We were the first public institution of higher education
established in Illinois and were in the mid-20th century one of the largest
Normal schools in the United States.  The history of teaching at Normal
schools seems to be an emerging theme.   We have revitalized the
celebration of Founders Day.  And so on.  A new  Foundations of Inquiry
Class required of entering students seems to be likely to include an
assignment on some aspect of University history.   That sort of assignment
generally gets the Freshperson in the door to ask the archivist to "just
tell me about the buildings on the quad" for my report.  We have a handout
on that and hope to have that information on the Library's webpage.  I have
finally gotten myself on the agenda for workshops to help FOI faculty
construct assignments. Patron contacts have risen from 5 or 10 or maybe 15
a month four or five years ago to the point of averaging 80 a month this
fall.  Did I mention that I am a 30% appointment.  Can you tell that I love
my job.  It is the best one on campus.

Jo Rayfield
Archivist



 At 09:01 AM 2/2/01 -0600, Russell Baker wrote:
>Colleagues:
>        I work at the Arkansas History Commission in Little Rock. We are the
>Arkansas State Archives and have always been the traditional place where
>patrons come for research sources on genealogy and local history. In 1997 we
>have 14244 patrons. This was a high year for us. However, since them our
>patronage has dropped to 11183 in 2000. My bosses want to know if this is
>just us or or there other institutions like ours that have experienced a
>similar drop in patronage. I attribute this drop to the intranet. Do your
>have other ideas. Genealogy is surely disappearing as a hobby in the U. S.
>Thanks for your comments and help.
>
>Russell P. Baker, CA
>Arkansas History Commission and State Archives
>One Capitol Mall
>Little Rock, AR 72201
>501-682-6900
>russell.baker@mail.state.ar.us <mailto:russell.baker@mail.state.ar.us>
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>