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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