[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: service animals and archives



All of this reminds me of an incident from several years ago. A man showed
up at the door of our Research Room with a large, live bird of some kind
perched on his shoulder, yes on his shoulder, yes an alive bird. When the
staff suggested that the Research Room might not be the place for his live
bird, and that he place the bird in a cage and leave it in his motor home,
he informed the staff that he never went anywhere without his bird. Then he
became very  angry and left the archives. He was later arrested in a nearby
city for driving in an unsafe manner and spent the night in jail, with his
bird I am sure. I do not remember if the two events were related. On an
other occasion a lady with a large shopping bag spend the day with us
researching. Just about closing time she reached into the bag and produced a
small, but very alive dog. One that had spend the entire day in the bag. The
lady and her dog have not been back, yet. Oh the joys of service in a public
archives.

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>




-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Roth [mailto:ericjroth@YAHOO.COM]
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 12:07 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: service dogs wrap up


Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry about
policies regarding allowing service dogs into
archives.

In summary, most respondents made it clear that
legally, service dogs are permitted to enter all
spaces with their owners, so archives cannot not
necessarily restrict service dogs from accompanying
their owners into archives.

These dogs are well-trained and are supposed to be
well-behaved, and all respondents reported favorable
experiences, but, in the case of a service dog causing
problems, the archives is justified in asking the
owner to remove the offending animal.

One respondent noted that archivists should not be
concerned with shedding, since such animals are
typically well-groomed, and any residue should
normally be taken care of during routine cleaning.

As an alternative approach, one respondent wrote that
"we do not let dogs into the Archives room. Any files
or documents would be brought out of the Archives to
another room, and this would be
under my supervision, whether there was a dog present
or not. That's our policy, but I should also add that
we do not let *anyone* who is not staff or an archival
volunteer into the room where the Archives are housed.

Thanks again.

Eric J. Roth
Archivist/Librarian
Huguenot Historical Society
88 Huugenot Street
New Paltz, NY 12561
library@hhs-newpaltz.org
ericjroth@yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com

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>

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>