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Re: Email & Increased Research Requests



This is a great question about an important issue. The following is how we
do things in our library/archives. Perhaps it will be of help, or at least
interest, concerning this topic.

Our research collection is in two parts: a library collection and the
archive. We have only two staff: a full-time librarian and a full-time
archivist (me). We have closed stacks, and so all researchers, whether
contacting us in person or at a distance, must go through us to get to any
materials in the collections.

First of all, our policy is to generally ask for an appointment before
coming in. We do this primarily for three reasons:

                        1) It ensures that either the librarian or myself will be available to
assist
                           the researcher. If one or both of us are out due to illness,
vacation, or
                           some other work-oriented commitment, the researcher will have wasted
                           his/her time by just showing up.
                        2) It ensures that we have something in our collection relevant to the
                           researcher's topic. There's no point in them making a trip to see us
if we
                           don't have anything to help them.
                        3) If we do have relevant materials in the collection, sometimes it
takes quite
                           a while to locate and pull them all. Again, there's no reason to
waste a
                           researchers time sitting around while their material is being located
and
                           pulled.

This is not to suggest that we never take walk-ins. If we are able to
assist a researcher right away, we will take them. But with limited staff
and a closed stack (and, by the way, no public catalog as yet to allow them
to do their own searching - we have to do that as well), it usually works
best for all involved if the researchers come by appointment.

All that being said, if a researcher poses, whether via e-mail or phone, a
quick ready-reference type of question, something that can be answered in
relatively short order, the librarian or I will answer it. If, however, the
researcher has a vague, broad, or loosely-defined type of request (usually
along the order of "What have you got about..."), then we require them to
come in in person. We will, of course, pull any relevant materials, but
it's up to them to do the research.

Now, of course, there are going to be researchers (only occasionally so
far, in our experience) who, whether due to distance, time, or some other
limitation, are unable to come to the archive in person. We do have one
staff researcher who, in addition to doing in-house research, will, for a
fee, do research for those unable to come in. Our fees are not cheap,
however, and no one has yet to approach us with such a request, anyway.

That's the way we do things in our library/archive. I hope this is of help
to you and at least of some interest to others on the list. If you require
further information, just let me know!

Joe Gillette
Orange County Regional History Center
Orlando, FL


> [Original Message]
> From: Denman, Joan <JDenman@WW2.FSU.EDU>
> To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
 > Date: 8/7/02 4:08:07 PM
> Subject: Email & Increased Research Requests
>
> In earlier emails, Rick Barry and Peter Hirsch, wondered if the example
> of the Bentley Historical Library's three weeks delay in responding to
> reference requests is portending the future. I think it is.
>
> We are finding that many people, especially students with paper
> deadlines fast approaching, will contact us for assistance on a World
> War II topic. Since we have a limited staff that can assist with
> reference requests, we have had to ask people if they intend to visit
> the Institute or not. Currently we are unable to conduct any research in
> our collections for on-line (or phone) patrons and must insist that
> people use our facilities on-site. Those who are willing to travel to
> Tallahassee are given as much assistance as staffing will allow. It is
> becoming more apparent that numerous people expect your complete
> collections to be online or for you to provide them with extensive
> research. What is the experience of other repositories?
>
> --
> Joan E. Denman
> Senior Archivist &
> Archival Manager
> Institute on World War II
> & the Human Experience
> Department of History
> Florida State University
> Tallahassee, FL 32306-2200
> 850-644-9033
> Email: jdenman@ww2.fsu.edu
> Institute's Email: ww2@ww2.fsu.edu
> Institute's webpage: www.fsu.edu/~ww2
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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--- Joseph Gillette
--- joegillette@earthlink.net

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>