Archives staff and student workers will share responsibility for answering the general Archives telephone number (573) 882-7567. The voice mail system on the Archives' telephones will be checked at the start of every work day and periodically throughout the day, and any messages will be responded to or forwarded to the appropriate person in a timely manner.
It is important to the Archives that every patron be provided with prompt, equitable, and courteous service. Patrons must be able to contact an Archives employee by means of the general number at any time during the business day. If the phone line is busy and a message is recorded, then taking note of and responding to that message as quickly as possible is essential in assuring prompt and courteous service.
This policy applies to all University of Missouri - Columbia Archives staff members and student workers.
4-1. It is the responsibility of employees with their own phone line and voice mail system to check their voice mail messages at the start of every day and periodically throughout the day.
4-2. It is the responsibility of the University Archivist, the Reference Archivist, or the Technical Services Archivist to do a start-of-workday check of the voice mail messages at the general Archives phone number, (573) 882-7567, which is the telephone located in 723 Lewis Hall.
4-3. It is the responsibility of all Archives employees, including student workers, to periodically check the voice mail messages at the general Archives phone number.
4-4. The student workers will be primarily responsible for fielding calls on the main number whenever they are working. They will either handle the calls if the request is straight forward or forward them to the appropriate staff member when the inquiry is more complex and time consuming.
4-5. For periods of time when there is no student coverage, the Reference Archivist will be responsible for fielding the main number from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM. The Technical Services Archivist will assume answering duties from 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM. The University Archivist will be responsible to answer the general phone line when both of the primary answerers are out of the office or on leave.
5-1. Form UMC/ARCH 001 - Reference Request form.
5-2. Voice Mail - the phone message system that allows callers reaching the Archives to leave a message if the phone line is already in use at the time of their call or if no staff member is available to answer the telephone.
6-1. When answering the Archives general number, employees will identify the University Archives and their name. All conversation will be conducted in a courteous and professional manner.
6-2. Calls will either be handled by the staff member or student answering the phone, or transferred to the appropriate Archives employee.
6-3. Form UMC/ARCH 001 Reference Request must be filled out for any call resulting in a reference activity. (See Policy 12, Reference Services)
6-4. A beeping tone prior to the dial tone indicates a message on the voice mail system. Instructions are posted on each telephone indicating the procedure to retrieve the message.
6-5. Follow the posted instructions to play a message, replay a message, save a message, forward a message to another phone line, or reply to a message. When there is no longer a need to retain a current message, follow the instructions to delete the message.
6-6. Respond to any messages appropriately and promptly, and remember to complete Form 001 if applicable.
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(Revised: 13 August 2002)
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Published by: University Archives muarchives.missouri.edu/
URL: https://muarchives.missouri.edu/man-p2.html
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