I would err on the side of caution. My first thought was why not? But
two things, first he
might be tempted not to copy if he finds two copies in the box.
Second, you have no control
over what is being copied, what if it is items you might generally
restrict because they have
social security numbers, etc. And finally, I sometimes get caught in
precedent setting
situations...e.g. you let Tom Smith copy, why can't I? I generally try
to err on the side of the
rule fits all. Despite the workload question, it might be better to
simply ask the researcher
to identify what he wants copies of. You can always point out that
later if he got home and
found his data was wrong, he wouldn't know what was being copied. You
could temporarily
mark the items to be copied....using color plastiklips or some such (no
post it notes!!).
Dean
Dean DeBolt
University Librarian, Special Collections
John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL 32514-5750
850-474-2213
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________________________________
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Schmid, Christine
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 9:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Levels of access
I am in need of the wisdom of my colleagues regarding access.
We have a researcher who has been working for several weeks on a large
collection. It was processed only on a box level and is about 200 record
sized boxes. This researcher will be leaving town soon and wants to be
able to photocopy documents in it on his own. He is willing to bring in
his own copier, do it himself and still pay for the copies. We are
actually considering his request because the collection is not in good
order and the copying, if done by our part time worker, would take quite
a while to get done because of the volume and disarray of the
collection. Basically it would be easier on some of the staff.
We have some reservations of course. The only open space for him to set
up and work would be where he would be unsupervised. Call me pessimistic
and skeptical but I don't tend to trust anyone with historic records
that I have been employed to care for.
Also, this researcher has a history of continuously asking for more
leeway on the rules and we always give an inch, give another inch and
then another inch all in the pursuit of open access for our users.
Has anyone been in this or a similar situation before? Advice? I am
afraid of setting a precedent for such open access to our collections
and building.
Thank you all.
Christine A. Schmid
Associate Archivist
The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of American Jewish Archives
3101 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45220
513-221-7444 x3319
513-221-7812 (fax)
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http://www.americanjewisharchives.org
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
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Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>