Richard and Daniel, I understand both your viewpoints. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this. I lived through and survived two Federal Reductions in Force (RIFs), one at NARA durig 1981-1982 and one at GAO in 1996. I would rather see an agency examine other cost cutting measures before it has to resort to firing people. And I bet NARA's top managers would like to avoid a RIF, also. Actually, I haven't heard RIFs mentioned although Bruce Craig mentioned possible furloughs. OF course, those would cut into employees' income. Richard, did the question of RIFs come up during the forum? I wasn't able to attend. A Federal RIF can be very disruptive, causing people to lose their jobs, not because of performance, but simply because of budget cuts. Moreover, when NARA had to RIF early in the Reagan administration, it was quite chaotic, as people had bumping rights, and they bumped downwards and knocked colleagues out of their jobs. I hope NARA never has to RIF again, myself. As for research hours, NARA did publish usage figures. I would guess that most people who rely on NARA for professional or job related research can get to the facility during business hours. I know I could, my boss would understand that doing research was part of my job as historian. Perhaps NARA can work out some kind of compromise, but I for one wouldn't want it to come at the cost of people losing their jobs. Especially as it is SO very hard to get into Federal service these days, especially for a job at NARA. I've mentioned for a couple of years now that Federal civilian agencies face tight times in terms of budgets. I'm following this story with great interest, given my many friends at NARA. Maarja (former Nixon tapes archivist) -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 2:44 PM Subject: Re: Call to action: Comment on proposed reduction in NARA reading room hours Richard, While I'm not looking to start a firestorm particularly, I'm not sure I agree entirely with your analysis of this change. I agree completely that, if possible, extended hours should be available. But I don't honestly consider a move to normal business hours only as a "serious barrier to public access." If they were shutting down four days a week I'd be with you, but losing evening & weekend hours moves it only to a level of inconvenience to my mind. Most of us conduct business during normal business hours - including corporate, university, and public sector archives. Most repositories I know have specific opening hours, and they don't often include such extended times. I accept the fact that users will now have to take working hours to visit, but I don't see this as paying for access. Raising taxes to pay for the additional open hours would be equivalently asking users (and non-users alike) to pay for access. Users will simply have to choose how they spend their working-hours time, as most of us do. I support your (& SAA's) efforts to come to a compromise, but like in all businesses, choices have to be made. I'd rather they restrict off-peak hours than have to cut something else out of the budget. DS ______________________________________ Daniel Sokolow, Archives Coordinator David Taylor Archives North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System 155 Community Drive Great Neck, NY 11021 mailto:[log in to unmask] 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]> ________________________________________________________________________ Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free. 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]>