Afternoon all,
Two things: first off, we're currently rethinking our policy towards answering
postal, email and telephone enquiries. In the past, we've restricted our
research to half an hour, and after this point have recommended that the reader
either visits the archive themselves, or employs a researcher to carry out the
work on their behalf. Recently, we've had some problems with this system, most
especially from particularly persistent readers who contact us repeatedly in a
short space of time with several quite detailed enquiries. I'd be interested to
know what policies and/or systems of charging other record offices have on this
matter.
Second, we're also thinking about changing our database system. CALM is
obviously one of the first we thought of, and we're going to arrange a visit
from them. However, I'd be interested to know what other systems record offices
are currently using, and whether they were put together in-house or by outside
firms.
If anyone wants feedback on either of the above, I'd be happy to provide it. And
apologies that this email contains no reference to either professional ethics,
or what the fashion-conscious archivist is wearing these days...
David Bishop
Acting Senior Archivist
Birmingham City Archive
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