A Vertical File of ready reference materials is maintained and updated on a regular basis.
Located in the Archives Reading Room, the Vertical File contains ready reference materials available for quick information in response to patron inquiries on a variety of University topics. More current materials are included in this resource than in the general holdings of the Archives.
This policy applies to all University of Missouri - Columbia Archives staff members and student workers.
While all staff members should add to the Vertical File copies of any information they find appropriate, it is primarily the responsibility of the Reference Archivist to sift through the materials sent periodically by the University's Office of Public Information, choose appropriate materials, prepare them for inclusion in the Vertical File, and update the Contents List in the file cabinet and on the Web site.
5-1. Vertical File - ready-reference materials used to provide quick information for patron queries about University of Missouri - Columbia topics.
6-1. Periodically, the University of Missouri's Office of Public Information routes a collection of news clippings entitled Clips Report to the Archives for perusal. The Reference Archivist looks through the various clippings, notes any that have significance for the Columbia campus, and marks selected articles for student workers to photocopy on Permalife bond paper, and then files the copies in the appropriate folders in the Vertical File. If a new subject heading is required, and thus a new folder, the folder is labeled following the example of the other vertical file folders, and the new folder heading is added to the Contents List maintained in the front of the first drawer of the Vertical File cabinet and to the vertical file finding aid posted on the Web site (http://muarchives.missouri.edu/vertical.html).
6-2. Similarly, if any staff member finds information about the University within a collection or other source that may be helpful in a ready reference query, the copying and filing procedures listed above will also apply.
6-3. The Clips Report is then filed chronologically in collection UW:4/141/16, located in 725, 3, 3.
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(Revised: 13 August 2002)