Hmmm...I'm concerned that this is going
to send out the wrong message, Dave - that Archivists are an unhelpful
lot so beware!
There are two sides to the story here.
While archives can appear intimidating, and yes staff can sometimes
be unhelpful, it's equally true that an awful lot of researchers turn up
without booking and expecting their research all ready on a plate or, that
if not, it's the Archivist's job to do the research. The Archivist
is usually not trying to be obstructive, but simply has another dozen people
clamouring for his or her attention!
I think a certain degree of self-reliance
should be stressed by Mr Southall to his 'students'. A good archive
will guide and point in the right direction but in the end researchers
do have to do the work...
For example where saying " Next
is the archivist saying we dont have anything for you without bothering
to look in their catalogue, some diplomacy needed here." -
surely it is the Archive staff's job to point the way to the right catalogue;
but the researcher must then browse through that catalogue to find any
relevant items?
To Mr. Southall - we have a load of
user guides on visiting a Record Office etc. plus source guides on our
website, feel free to download and use!
Regards
Steven Davies
Archivist / Archifydd
Flintshire Record Office / Archifdy Sir y Fflint
Tel./Ffôn: (01244) 532414
Finding the right archive to look in.
Finding the information in the archive.
Good online catalogues that google has access to help there.
Next is the archivist saying we dont have anything for you without
bothering to look in their catalogue, some diplomacy needed here.
Then there is the hard slog guessing how a collection is catalogued
and the right search terms to use to get to the right box to ask for
to look in.
Turning up on the door and asking to view gets little in the poor
access policy archives.
Dave Caroline
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