Monday, March 22, 2010

While I accessioned memorabilia last week, I set aside any problem items I came across that I wasn't sure how to deal with. I spent most of the morning discussing these items with Brad and entering them into the database once our conversation had clarified what I needed to do with them. Brad also showed me the original accession system in the University Archives. It was used before the archives purchased the AskSam database software and relied on assigning ranges of numbers to particular university offices or departments and keeping track of accessions on cards. Brad indicated that many of the archives I might end up working in are likely to have the remnants of such a system.

Towards the end of my shift, Brad showed me how he goes about filling photo orders. He said that people from other Indiana University offices often contact the photographs department on the behalf of someone who has contacted them with a photographs request, but that it's always best for an archivist to work directly with the person with the request rather than working through intermediaries. In the case of the Indiana University Archives photographs department, there are forms that must be tailored to the requester's situation, if he or she plans to publish the image. The questions about the intended use of the image and the related fees make it particularly important that Brad be in direct contact with the person who needs the image.

However, working directly with the requester also provides the archivist with the opportunity to clarify the request or get more detail from the requester. It seems like this interaction would be the equivalent of the "reference interview" we discussed in my SLIS Reference course, and, just like the more traditional reference questions we worked with in that class, it seems that taking the time to work directly with the person who needs images from the archives can make things much easier in the long run by avoiding potential misunderstandings and problems.

We began filling a request for photographs of two chemistry professors who were at Indiana University during the 1950s, and we will complete this request tomorrow.