Anne:

On our registration form, which all our users read and sign, is a line
which reads:

Do you want your work to remain confidential? 	       Yes              
No

Above it is a line that reads: 
(If neither "yes" or "no" is checked for either or both of the next two
lines, the Archives staff will assume that you meant to check "no.")   

If the patron wants her/his work to remain confidential, it is.  If
she/he does not, we inform other researchers working in the same area as
occasion arises.  It is often very helpful to both parties.

Bob Shuster
Billy Graham Center Archives

*****

>>> Anne Slater <[log in to unmask]> 7/9/2006 9:48 AM >>>
Let me preface this by saying that I am a retired circulation
librarian who has taken on her church's partially catalogued
archives...

In mid June a prof (hereinafter #1) contacted my church regarding
access to the archives on a very specific topic, for a book (if that
matters).

I spent half a day looking through stuff in the archives with and for
#1, and have subsequently begun work on updating and arranging the
archives initially because of this quest, although I had been asked to
take this on before the request came in..

A week later, I got another request from another academic (hereinafter
#2),
different university, for access to the archives, same topic, for a
paper (if that matters).

In passing, in a letter to #1, I mentioned that another person was
interested in the topic.
 #1 sends me a letter that betrays total panic, and asking if the
other person is #2.

It is.

What is MY responsibility to either of these researchers? Of course I
would not mention names to either of them, but does #1's "seniority"
in the search in some way preclude my giving access to #2?

#1 cannot come to do research until December, while #2 is coming some
time in July....

Anne Slater,
(Canaday Library,Bryn Mawr College 1973-2005)
Ardmore, PA

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