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Re: Let them eat cake



Hi all. Long time subscriber, first time poster :)

I have to agree with Lydia on the point that it is frustrating to contact
any specialist (even with a 'stupid question') and only receive an automated
response, rather than to have one's question personally addressed within a
reasonable amount of time. I've had to navigate far too many computerized
customer service systems to deny that! Nevertheless, as the only archivist
in a fairly busy repository I have been tempted to abuse the "Out of Office
Assistant" function on my e-mail...

Ultimately, I think a blanket 'wait three weeks' message only begs the
question, "why not hire a temp to scan everything into the computer and let
researchers find it themselves?" I have no problem responding to undeveloped
questions with, "you really need to visit us in person to uncover that
information." I'd prefer to be a crazed and overworked information
professional than an unemployed smarty-pants  ;)

Jeff

Jeffrey V. Moy, Archivist
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, P.O. Box 540
Newark, NJ  07101-0540
(973) 596-6622
jmoy@newarkmuseum.org



Date:    Wed, 7 Aug 2002 17:22:46 -0500
From:    "Robins, Judith" <J.Robins@ASAHQ.ORG>
Subject: Re: Let them eat cake

Hello, Lydia.

I find that an honest estimate of the time it will take to reply to such =
requests is better than either silence or false promises.  That =
so-called delay is likely to have more to do with a first-come, =
first-served policy than it does with the complexity of a given request. =
 Where the volume of inquiries received is high, a three-week turnaround =
is reasonable.  Your suggestion for speeding replies assumes that there =
is staff to spare for the purpose; few of us can boast as much.

Judy Robins, C. A.,
Collections Supervisor,
Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology
520 N. Northwest Highway
Park Ridge, IL  60068-2573

Tel:  847-825-5586

Fax:  847-825-1692

e-mail: j.robins@ASAHQ.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Lucas, Lydia [mailto:lydia.lucas@MNHS.ORG]
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 4:46 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: Re: Email & Increased Research Requests


As I interpreted the comments on the 3-week delay, the objections seemed to
focus not so much on the duration of the delay as on an auto-reply that
suggested it would take at least 3 weeks to come up with a response no
matter what (i.e., how simplistic) the question.  This is not really very
good public relations.  As a researcher (which I occasionally am), I like to
know up-front what sort of a delay I can expect.  I also, however, like to
think that my request has been screened by a sentient being, so that the
estimated response time bears some relationship to the nature of the
request.

For an institution that responds to e-mail requests at all (and I realize
that staffing limitations make this difficult or prohibitive for some), it
generally shouldn't be all that burdensome for someone (a clerk or a student
is just fine) to do a quick review of the e-mails, route each one into the
proper queue, and send off one of 3 or 4 boilerplate replies, or perhaps an
actual answer if the question is really simple.  In this way, the 5-minute
question can get answered and out of the way, a request that requires more
staff time can take its place in line (and the length of the line might vary
considerably from time to time), and the utterly unreasonable or
we-don't-do-this request can be handled (also perhaps pretty quickly) in
accordance with institutional policy.

Lydia Lucas
Head, Processing Department
Minnesota Historical Society
345 Kellogg Boulevard West
St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
ph (651) 297-5542
fax (651) 296-9961
e-mail:  lydia.lucas@mnhs.org

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