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

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