Dear Quinton,
That does seem like an unreasonable amount of info to have to send through
the post!
Here at Surrey, there are no official guidelines as to how much information
I will send to an enquirer through the post. However, it is stated in the
SMR leaflet we produce that complex enquiries or those that a liable to
produce a large amount of records will have to be researched in person, at
the SMR office, by appointment. I also point this out to enquirers over
the phone or by letter, and so far haven't had a problem.........
As a rule of thumb, if an enquiry produces up to 50 records, or c.120
pages, I don't mind putting these full printouts in the post (usually free
of charge to students or university researchers). However, if the search
produces more than this amount, then I will send a list of the records
(showing site type, grid-ref and parish) to the enquirer and advise them
they will need to visit the office in person to obtain further details;
alternatively, if they only require a few of the records in full then I'm
happy to print these out and send to them.
As the SMR database here is an 'in-house' system, we don't yet have the
ability to 'export' records to e-mail, etc to send them electronically.
Therefore, all our enquirers receive their search results in paper copy,
and this is why we encourage them to visit the office (where printouts are
charged at 10p per A4 copy and the enquirer is more choosy about the
information they printout!). Visitors have access to a computer with the
full database and GIS layers based in the SMR 'room' at the end of the
office where they can take their time and print or photocopy any of the
resources that are held here.
Basically, the amount of paper that is generated by a search request is the
reason for limiting the amount of records that we will send through the
post. If search results could be exported electronically through e-mail,
then this limit would not be an issue, as long as the search request was
straightforward (ie all Bronze Age). Anything significantly more
complicated than this and we would request the enquirer visit the SMR in
person.
Hope this helps,
Emily
Emily Brants
Surrey SMR Officer
Conservation Group
Surrey County Council
County Hall
Kingston-Upon-Thames
Surrey
020 8541 9083
Fire Kills. You Can Prevent It.
Visit www.surrey-fire.gov.uk for more advice.
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