In an attempt to move the researcher card issue off list, here's a question for those of you who work outside the National Archives. If your institution issues researcher i.d. cards that are valid for a fixed period of time, how much of a window do you give people to renew them? It strikes me that the NARA policy that I was told today (if that indeed is the policy), is counterinuitive. Not only was the renewal policy not posted on the web, it never, ever occurred to me that NARA would refuse to renew my card the day before it expired. We members of the public generally do not wait until the date of expiration, or beyond, to renew our driver's licenses, state issued picture i.d.s and passports. I would think that most people play it safe and try to renew a little early, just in case something goes wrong. (The application gets lost in the mail, you or a family member get sick and can't leave the house to handle it in person, your computer crashes, etc.) The general practice is to renew those types of items slightly before they expire, so there is no break in having one. If your institution issues researcher cards, how do you handle renewal? Do you make people wait until the day the card expires, or until after it has expired? Or do you provide an option for renewing right before the expiration date? If you do not allow "early" renewal, do researchers complain that such a policy is counterintuitive, blah blah blah? How do you handle that? Do you enable online renewal, as, for example, Virginia's DMV does for driver's licenses? Or do people have to come in person to renew their cards, as is the case at NARA? Again, please respond off list. I'll summarize the responses and post 'em some time, probably next week. Thanks! Maarja A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] 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 <[log in to unmask]>