University of Missouri - Columbia Archives


Policy Number 12: Archival Reference Services
12/2000


1. POLICY:

It is the policy of the University Archives to provide all patrons with professional, equitable, and courteous reference service. Reference assistance is available to faculty, staff, students, and the general public. Reference service will be provided to patrons in need of research assistance, but it is not in the mandate of the University Archives to perform detailed research work for patrons.

2. PURPOSE:

2-1. Reference assistance will help patrons determine the appropriate materials necessary to fulfill their information needs.

2-2. Reference service forms will help document the use of the various holdings of the Archives and reference services provided.

3. SCOPE:

This policy applies to all University of Missouri - Columbia Archives staff members and student workers.

4. RESPONSIBILITIES:

4-1. The University Archivist with the assistance of the Reference Archivist develops the procedures and forms used in the Archives reference service.

4-2. The University Archives Staff and student workers (under staff direction) are responsible for providing the reference service in accordance with procedures contained herein.

4-3. The Reference Archivist is responsible for calculating the monthly reference figures, using the form provided by Ellis Library.

5. DEFINITIONS:

5-1. Form UMC/ARCH 001 - Reference Request form.

5-2. Form UMC/ARCH 002 - Rules of Use form.

5-3. Patron - any faculty member, staff, student, or member of the public with an information need.

5-4. Reference Service - professional and courteous assistance given by the Archives Staff and student workers to members of the community with the result of providing access to records and print documents held by the University Archives that will satisfy the patrons' information needs.

6. PROCEDURES:

6-1. Patrons sign the Registration Book and read and sign Form UMC/ARCH 002, Rules of Use. The reference service provider also signs and dates the form.

6-2. All belongings of the patron are placed on or near the coat rack. Only notebooks, pencils, tape recorders, typewriters and personal computers are allowed on the research tables.

6-3. Patrons are asked to fill out Form UMC/ARCH 001, Reference Request. The staff member adds information from the patron's two forms of identification to the top of the Reference Request and signs his or her name on the line underneath. If the patron is a repeat user of the Archives and a previous form has been completed with the identification information, then the ID procedure may be ignored.

6-4. The reference service provider lists all materials referred to in the course of the research on the bottom portion of the Reference Request form. He or she also notes the collection number, collection name, and containers used, and if the patron was presented with the material and if it came back and was checked for orderliness and completeness.

6-5. Materials must be reviewed in the reading room. Only one box is allowed on the table at a time. An outcard is used to mark the place of any file removed from a box, or any material removed from a file.

6-6. The patron is supplied with and must wear white-cotton gloves when handling photographs, negatives, or slides.

6-7. A staff member or student worker must be in the Archives Reading Room or the Reference Archivist's office whenever a patron is doing research.

6-8. Reference service is also available for E-mail, postal, and telephone requests. The same prompt, complete, and courteous service will be given to these requests as is given to those given to patrons who come to the Archives Reading Room. Each type and instance of these requests requires the completion of Form UMC/ARCH 001, Reference Request.

6-9. A copy of any and all correspondence with patrons, including email correspondence, is maintained in the Correspondence file in room 723.

NOTE: An electronic copy of the Archives Reference Request, Form UMC/ARCH 001 is located on the 'Um-ics-fs1' (P:) drive in the Forms-Templates folder. The file is entitled Reference Request Form Template. Either a blank form can be printed out from this file or the form may be completed electronically and then printed out.

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7. APPENDICES:

7-1. MU Archives Rules of Use, Form UMC/ARCH 002.

7-2. MU Archives Reference Request, Form UMC/ARCH 001.

(Revised: 13 August 2002)

Copyright © Curators of the University of Missouri 1997-2005
Published by: University Archives muarchives.missouri.edu/
URL: https://muarchives.missouri.edu/man-p2.html

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