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Re: Question about internal files



Hello all -- I've received some responses to this thread, but I'm
re-sending it in the hopes that a few more people will have time to respond
to my questions.  It's an interesting study in where we stand in this
electronic age.

So far, seven of ten repositories keep hard copy finding aids in their
reading rooms; nine of ten keep backups on drives other than their HTML
servers; and all keep some form of hard copy collection correspondence,
with only two repositories mixing electronic and hard copy filing
systems.  Nobody keeps collection correspondence in solely electronic form.

Thanks again for your replies.  It's an interesting peek into our own
practices in this increasingly digital age.....

Amy Cooper
Special Collections Librarian
University of Iowa

At 09:22 AM 12/4/2001 -0600, Amy Cooper wrote:
Hi all -- I wanted to get some collective wisdom from the list on how you
maintain your internal files.  We're discussing some questions of internal
filing structure, and I'm wondering how many repositories use a system that
includes one or more of the following:

Hard copy finding aids -- specifically, do you make ALL of them available
to researchers in the reading area? Do you maintain the changes to the hard
copy finding aids in the reading area if they are also available on line?

Electronic finding aids -- specifically, those available online via your
website.  Do you rely on the HTML document that is stored on your library's
main server, or do you also have back up word documents stored in other
drives?

Collection correspondence -- do you store it in hard copy
only?  Electronically?  Or some combination of the two?

I imagine that this is the kind of thing that is somewhat infrequently
addressed -- we grow our internal filing structures to suit the need and
they can grow unwieldy.  A lot of internal filing structures aren't looked
at until some big technology change comes along....   But I'd be interested
in hearing from other repositories who have both legacy and new
information, and from repositories with some (but not all) online finding
aids.  Unless others are intensely interested in this, you may respond off
list and I'll summarize.

Thanks in advance,
Amy


Amy Cooper
Special Collections Librarian
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA  52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-6433
e-mail: amy-l-cooper@uiowa.edu

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Amy Cooper
Special Collections Librarian
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA  52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-6433
e-mail: amy-l-cooper@uiowa.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>