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There's a rather defensive tone emerging here, and rather too much evidence of an "us and them" view of readers Don't forget that "confidence in advice given" is a reasonable measure of customer satisfaction, and you're not going to get that unless you satisfy enquirers that material genuinely doesn't exist. "I'm fairly sure we don't have this .. but here's how to check for yourself" is generally the way to handle it. Also, with regard to finding and searching catalogues, remember that supermarket policy is to guide customers to the right shelf and product rather than simply point or say "half way down the fouth aisle". It doesn't take a lot longer for staff, but does hugely improve customer satisfaction. The person who uses the store regularly doesn't need that help - the occasional user probably will. That said, I think it's reasonable to warn potential users of likely difficulties - and perhaps a degree of negativity is unavoidable. Both academic research advisers and archives need to make the limitations of services and likely levels of assistance clear to users in order to manage expectations and "train" users. As professionals, we need to be acutely aware of the fine balance between what we see as necessary procedures and expectations and what users might feel justified in regarding as unhelpfulness and obstruction. Two views of the same issue, and perceptions colour overall views of experiences. -- Chris Pickford 4 Walmsley Court, High Street, Kinver, DY7 6HG Tel: 01384 878435 or (mobile) 07811 453525 E-mail: [log in to unmask] or (interchangeably) [log in to unmask] Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask] For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra