The presumption in the post attached below is that all archives are not heavily used by the "masses". I have managed two heavily used archives--the National Automotive History Collection and the Burton Historical Collection, both  at Detroit Public Library. We get many thousands of user inquiries each year and are very proud of it. Outreach is an important component of our service and we are always looking for ways to market what we hold to the public. Use accredits us and even though some may not know to officially call us archivists, my observation is that users intuitively understand what we do in our collections and nearly all appreciate us. Proof is that our millages are overwhelmingly passed by voters-- people I personally would not refer to as the "masses". Mark Patrick

"Scott, Kim" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Archives & Archivists <[log in to unmask]>
06/19/2006 01:53 PM CST
Please respond to "Scott, Kim"

To: [log in to unmask]
cc:
bcc:
Subject: Pax Archivus
 

Ok, ok….so you know my Latin isn’t up to snuff either….



We probably, as a profession, ought to spend more time selling people on the value of the work we do, rather than trying to sell each other on the value of our education (or our educational program, if we are fishing for students). 



The bottom line is that the service we provide is used by so few people when compared to those other professions, like doctors, lawyers, and (gasp) librarians.  Since our customer base is so small, we have a larger responsibility of convincing the masses who will never darken our doors that it is a good idea to keep paying us.



Kim Allen Scott

MontanaStateUniversity, Bozeman

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]>