Dear all,
Colleagues may be interested in the online ordering system at The Keep in East Sussex.
The Keep is a world-class center for archives that opens up access to all the collections of the East Sussex Record Office (ESRO), the Royal Pavilion & Museums Local History Collections and the internationally significant University of Sussex Special Collections.
The Keep was opened by the Queen in November 2013 and has since been successfully running a fully automated online ordering system that allows researchers to order material through an online interface and book time and space in our Reading Room. We use handheld devices that tell us what material has been ordered for the day and where to find it in the stores. We have barcoded all our containers and we record their movements around the building by scanning them to rooms using the handheld devices. Researchers can also see the movement of their containers after they have ordered the material online and are automatically notified when it is ready at the issuing desk in the reading room.
You can find out more about how to use this system using our online help here:
http://www.thekeep.info/help-2/online-ordering-at-the-keep/
I have also written a blog post on The Keep’s blog here:
http://www.thekeep.info/behind-scenes-keep-ordering-systems/
We have developed this system with our partners Orangeleaf Systems and Wise Software.
I’d be very interested to hear about the experiences of other archives that may have implemented online ordering or are thinking about doing so.
I’m curious to know what others think about the benefits of online ordering of archival material; does taking the archivist out of the equation at the point of order prevent researchers from gaining information about other collections that may be of interest that only the archivist would know about? Is it too much to expect researchers to learn about the meaning of the hierarchy so they can browse a collection themselves? Or is online ordering simply a natural progression for archives – even necessary considering the ubiquity of online ordering in every one’s daily lives?
I’d be interested to know the views of list members.
Best wishes
Adam
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