>> Will anyone provide their policy regarding volunteers' access, use and care >of >> collections or >> provide thoughts on the subject? I believe that properly qualified volunteers should have access to collections. How many staffs are big enough to have the people to sort through the collections? I have just volunteered to catagorize an industrial photograph collection in a local historical society that has remained unprocessed for years, because the staff does not have the time, and certainly doesn't know what they are looking at if they did have the time. Myself, as an industrial historian know what the photos are, and have volunteered to process the images in exchange for the opportunity to look through the previously unavailable photo collection. I am not going to destroy, steal, or mutilate the photos, and I can be trusted with them, since that collection is a very important resource in my work, and nobody knows its significance more than I. The key is to know who your volunteers are, and to make a determination whether or not they have the knowlege, skills and trustworthiness to give them access. Of course supervision is also neccesary. (I said supervision, not micromanagement. Nothing irks me more than the curator standing over my shoulder watching my every move). Rick Rowlands Youngstown Steel Heritage Corporation