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Increased e-mail and research requests



I think we can all agree that e-mail requests have increased tremendously
over the last two years and that this is simply another way for patrons to
talk to an archivist.

Patrons who send requests via the US Postal Service usually expect that
they will have a response in a week or two. However, one of the problems we
see over and over again with our e-mail requests is the fact that if the
patron sent the request in the morning, they often think they should have
the answer by that afternoon (scanned and delivered) and become extremely
impatient with us if they don't. (This is spite of the fact that we have a
two day turnaround and a small staff) We respond to all e-mail requests--we
have a research request form on our web site that requires an address, but
not all researchers use it. We instituted the e-request form because so
many researchers ask for research and then don't give us their address in
spite of repeated attempts on our part to obtain this information from
them. For those patrons who do not use our e-request form and who ask for
research but do not provide a mailing address, we now notify them that
before we will look up anything for them, they must send us an address.
Most respond quickly. For those who do not, this step has cut down
considerably on the piles of completed research and no where to send them.

Melanie Sturgeon
Melanie I. Sturgeon, Ph.D.
Director, History and Archives Division
Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
phone 602-542-4159
fax: 602-542-4402
www.lib.az.us

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