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Original Message ----- From: Oakman Phil To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:56 PM Subject: Re: Volunteer Archivist required - OMF International (UK) <<I hope no-one minds me chipping in but I think Craig has a point ... As a charity I'm sure finances are always tight so I'm sure they would hope and pray for some time donated by employees. But if the organisation thinks running an archive is important it should offer to pay for at least something towards a professional's skills and time. It could be that they are inundated with offers from rich former archivists with time on their hands who will be prepared to work for nothing in which case congratulations and to them and I'm sure they can feel free to blow a big raspberry to the doubters but I suspect most of us need to earn at least a small crust.>> It's not the first time that requests for a largely voluntary archivist (or similar) have been posted on this list. Nor is it the first time that these have been linked to a job specification which could be quite challenging if the work is to be performed well. My own view is that such posts would most likely be of interest to any retired archivists who would still welcome an opportunity to keep their hands in and to perform a useful service - or else to ones with a significant private income. If no such people exist (to take over from an existing volunteer), then presumably there will be no applicants. If the organisation receives no applications, then it will need to think again about exactly what it wants to do regarding its archives. On the other hand if it's lucky, it might get someone who would gain a measure of personal satisfaction from carrying out this type of task. Either way, I don't see why the organisation can't ask and see, although it's certainly true that any such working relationship would need to be handled with sensitivity. Nor (since it relates to archives) can I see any good reason why such requests should be excluded from this list - even assuming that it's really practicable to do so. In the last analysis, one can never force people to be volunteers. Aidan Jones. 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