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Re: Real world of way behind archives...



Certainly, not allowing access to unprocessed collections should be the
rule, but there are instances where necessity rules otherwise. Marcia Segal
is definitely correct in that circumstances will be different at each
institution, based upon staff, physical set-up, the quantity of material
requested, the condition of the material (e.g., it may be brittle), etc.
To clarify, legislative records at the California State Archives represent
only a fraction of our unprocessed holdings. The majority of the unprocessed
records are large groups of records from individual state agencies. It is
correct that legislative records are the most frequently used records for
determining the intent of the Legislature in enacting particular
legislation. As the most frequently used records and some of the most
significant records, they have very high priority for processing and are
being processed at a steady rate.
Many of the legislative files are unprocessed because they are created by
individual members of the Legislature who are still in office. However,
files of members currently in office are restricted from public access, and
are made available to researchers only with the written approval of the
member.
Generally speaking, under the California Public Records Act, we are
required, by law, to provide access to public records, regardless of whether
they are processed or not. (Papers of individual members are not considered
public records. Rather, they are personal papers. As a condition of the deed
of gift when the files are placed in the State Archives, they are restricted
until after the member leaves office.) If there is a risk of losing original
order, it is a risk that we take every effort to minimize, but yet must
accept to comply with the requirements of the Public Records Act.

Oh, and we do not have a Dictabelt machine.

Nancy Zimmelman
Legislative Records Archivist
California State Archives

        ----------
        From:  Bunker, Kevin [SMTP:kbunker@SS.CA.GOV]
        Sent:  Saturday, July 07, 2001 3:56 PM
        To:  ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
        Subject:  Re: Real world of way behind archives...

        Allowing access to unprocessed collections should be the rule, but
there are
        instances where necessity rules otherwise.

        Case in point is CA State Archives, where unprocessed non-restricted
        legislative intent records (mostly relatively recent) are voluminous
and
        occupy the best part their very own stacks floor. All of these --
again,
        only those which have no restrictions placed upon them by their
originating
        legistor, if h/she is still in office -- are made available to
archives
        researchers. It is a risk we must take, regardless of potential loss
of
        order. Most of the time, these are already in legislative bill
number marked
        folders supplied from the legislative rep or committee office of
origin;
        most are in fairly tidy form as received but there are some that are
not so
        neatly arranged. We occasionaly must neaten up the file(s) as they
are run
        through photocopy orders.

        CSA does have a modern, largely state-of-the-art research room, with
patron
        tables under roving security cameras, lockers out front for all
patron
        belongings, etc. The potential for theft is not at all easy here.

        But the sheer volume of legislative intent research here requires us
to
        comply with the present demand, and while doing so, our archivists
are doing
        their best to keep processing away! And as of last week, CSA is at
60% of
        stacks storage capacity! This in a custom-tailored archives facility
less
        than a decade old.

        Kevin V. Bunker
        Student Assistant
        California State Archives

        > ----------
        > From:         Roy Webb[SMTP:rwebb@LIBRARY.UTAH.EDU]
        > Reply To:     Roy Webb
        > Sent:         Saturday, July 07, 2001 1:09 PM
        > To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
        > Subject:      Re: Real world of way behind archives...
        >
        > > You need to be careful when letting patrons look at unproccessed
        > materials
        > > because you have no way of knowing whether something is missing
after
        > the
        > > patron is finished.  I know that is a bit cynical but...
        > >
        > I always say it's because the donor might have established an
        > original order, and you don't want to disturb that; you know how
        > important an archival principle "original order" is, right up
there with
        > "when in doubt, transfer out," and "out of sight, out of mind."
        >
        > Of course I don't trust patrons to look through unprocessed
        > collections; sorry if it's cynical, that's the way it is.  If you
say it's
        > because of "original order" you don't sound as cynical as you
        > probably feel.
        >
        >
        > Roy Webb, C.A.
        > Multimedia Archivist
        > Special Collections
        > J. Willard Marriott Library
        > 295 South 1500 East
        > University of Utah
        > Salt Lake City, Utah   84112
        > (801) 585-3073  //  fax (801) 585-3976
        > rwebb@library.utah.edu
        >
        > A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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        > Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt
<rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
        >

        A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

        To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to
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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>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

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>