Hi, Harry and List,
Having worked at NARA, I can understand somewhat why they do no pulls
on the weekend. As an agency, you would have to staff up not only the
reference room but also the records custodial units. So, to provide
full service on Saturday, you either make staff juggle their schedules
(and you know most people want to match their days off with their
family members) or you hire more staff. At the same time, I feel badly
for researchers who've wasted their time trekking out to AII. I have
no car and rely on public transit so I know how difficult it is to get
there on Saturday.
Unfortunately, since posting my message, I've gotten several off list
messages that recount bad experiences involving people who went to NARA
and who waited for hours for records (five hours in one case). Some
times this happened despite prior consultation with staff, prior
discussion of screening, etc. I'm hearing about all kinds of snafus.
It sounds as if even the researchers who take every precaution before
they show up sometimes run into terrible problems. Having worked both
sides (NARA and now an agency historian), I try to see the differing
perspectives. But much of what I'm hearing today really is
dispiriting. If this is hard for me to put up with -- and I'm a
"bureaucrat" -- I can't imagine how some of it comes across to members
of the general public!!
Maarja
-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Heiss <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:36:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Flabbergasted by NARA visit today
Eric G. Grundset wrote:
"Both days I had plenty of extra time to spend getting a new card and
neither day (the first one being a Saturday) was the place busy at all
(in fact, on that Saturday it was empty of researchers). This certainly
is not very good public service either."
Maarja, Eric, et al.,
I feel your pain. I once wanted to use NARA's reading room on a
Saturday, so I went to their website to get the hours, etc. To my
surprise, they don't pull records from the stacks on Saturdays. You
have to request the records you want on the day before. This is what
their website says:
No records are retrieved from the stacks on Saturday or in the evening.
If research is conducted on Saturday or after the last retrieval time,
advance arrangements must be made to have records available by calling
the reference numbers below. To confirm that records were retrieved,
call (301) 837-1964.
I pity those researchers who come to Washington from out-of-the-area,
don't know this, and learn it when they arrive at the Archives on
Saturday morning.
Never mind that not all NARA's finding aids are available online and
that most are available only onsite. Or that many requests for records
come back as "Not on Shelf," or that most archival research leads to
dead-ends. Just getting to the Archives at College Park is no easy
feat, and especially on Saturdays using public transit. If you have to
trek out there to search the finding aids to find out which records
you'll need the next day, then you might as well do your research the
same day you're there.
So I'm not surprised that NARA was empty when Eric visited on a
Saturday. One would think an astute manager would look at the visitor
statistics for Saturdays and ask themself, "What's going on here? Why
is no one using the Archives on Saturdays?" Well, duh! Take a look at
your arcane procedures, dude.
NARA has thrown up way too many hurdles for researchers under the guise
of security or lack of funding. I can just imagine the public outrage
if my local public library operated as does NARA. It's no wonder that
so many people have a negative image of public servants. All it takes
is one bad apple or one bad experience.
I'm now stepping off my soapbox and getting back to work. But I do
feel much better already.....
Harry
Harry G. Heiss, Archivist
Bureau of the Public Debt
Department of the Treasury
799 Ninth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20239
[log in to unmask]
202.504.3516 [voice]
202.504.3630 [fax]
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