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Re: Question about Reference questions



In my small shop, the archives started 12 years ago.  So far I have kept all
reference questions and my always brilliant answers.  This is due to the
fact that I have had room to do so.  Like you I am rethinking this.  I do
both reference for manuscripts collections and in-house requests for
institutional records.  I think maybe I will keep about 10 years worth of
the manuscripts reference.  Again, remember, we are small, 10 years does not
produce too many files.  However, for in-house requests for institutional
records, I will keep them longer.  Its amazing how many times I get the same
questions from the administration.  It is fabulous to go into my requests
lists and find the same answers without having to do a full search every
time.  The favorite question -- how many honorary degrees has the GTU given
out?

Lucinda Glenn Rand
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Berkeley, CA (that's California, not Certified Archivist for all you that
wear the CA buttons at SAA)

-----Original Message-----
From: Amy Cooper [mailto:alcooper@USD.EDU]
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2001 10:01 AM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Question about Reference questions


Hello all,

I'd like to pose a question to the list (which, by the way, I still find
valuable).  We currently save both reference questions that come to us
and the replies we make, and have done so for a number of years.  But
this practice will, eventually, result in a huge amount of material in
our office files.

My question is this:  what guidelines do other small shops put around
their reference queries?  Do you keep them forever?  Do you keep them
for a certain time and discard?  Do you save them electronically but not
on paper?  What do you see as the pros and cons of saving reference
queries?  Obviously, there's the historical record of use of the
collections..... but are there others that can't be answered by a good
patron database (which we have and use)?

Just wondering what other smaller shops actually do.  If you reply to
me, I'll summarize for the list.

Thanks,
Amy Cooper
*************************************************
Assistant Professor Amy Cooper
Archivist/Special Collections Librarian
I. D. Weeks Library
The University of South Dakota

Phone: 605-677-8867     E-Mail: alcooper@usd.edu

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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>