Be part of the Society of American Archivists’ new and forthcoming Archival Fundamentals Series! Cheryl Oestreicher, who is authoring the Providing Reference and Access Services in Archives and Manuscripts book, seeks real-world examples and photos that represent the wide variety of institutions, staffing levels, policies, and procedures that exist throughout the profession. Contributions need not be formally written as standalone pieces, as they will be integrated throughout the book itself. Send an e-mail, a couple of paragraphs, or a few sentences about a practice or experience that you found especially useful. Personal photos, website links, social media blurbs, and other online references are welcome. Copies of internal policies and procedures are helpful, and nothing will be published without your explicit permission. Contributions also can be anonymized upon request. Depending upon the amount of and types of suggestions, some may not be included in the final book.
Simply send an email to: ccoest@gmail.com with the subject line “Reference and Access Book Contribution.” Thank you for helping us to produce a better book!
The following is a list of potential contributions:
- reading room photos
- access policies
- loan policies
- accessibility of facilities/ADA compliance
- virtual reading room
- copyright, registration, reproduction, publishing, etc. forms
- ethical decisions about access
- dealing with difficult patrons
- unusual patron types and experiences
- unusual disciplines/research projects
- how do institutional staff use/request records, what materials are they looking for and why
- reference manuals
- when archivists do research (beyond standard reference interactions)
- reference training documents/procedures
- copying/reproduction policies
- internal metrics, tracking statistics
- assessment of reference interactions; post-visit surveys
- how do you staff reference services: rotation, designated reference desk, subject/curatorial specialists, etc.
- marketing and outreach strategies (not examples of individual activities, but overall strategies)
Publishing in the Archives Profession 