At 09:12 AM 6/21/98 -0400, you wrote:
At the Edouard A. Stackpole Library and Research Center, part of  the
Nantucket Historical Assocation, there is only a staff of three. We barely
keep up with research requests, nearly all of which are handled by the
research associate, who works twenty hours a week. We provide a half hour
of research free, sufficient time for anwering basic questions, and then
charge $20.00 per hour beyond the initial half hour if the question demands
detailed research, which they usually do. Our limit is 2 hours of research
per query. If we know that it will take some time to answer the query, we
notify the researcher of our fees and policy before we proceed with the
research. Nine times out of ten they give us permission to go ahead with
the research, and we send them a bill with the results of our research. We
have no qualms in informing patrons that their queries are too long or
detailed (frequently one query is in actuality five) for us to handle, or
that they have to be more specific in defining the kinds of information
they need (often difficult for genealogists who want to know everything
about a family). Decide on how much time you can give to each query, inform
your public of this policy, and adhere to it.

Regarding additional help: we do have volunteers who help a little with
research and with photocopying. We are thinking of having a library intern
next summer, or some kind of assistant, to help with answering research
queries, among other things...

Hope this is helpful.

Betsy Lowenstein
Library Director
[log in to unmask]


>Here at the History Center, we have a small library which came to us
>intact from another collection, that is open to the public for research
>on the local area, as well as state information.  We also have a
>genealogy section and a file of family papers generated by researchers
>over the years.
>
> We are beginning to generate requests from people, usually by phone or
>email, for some substantial research on our part to answer their
>question.  Up to now, I have been doing as much as I can, but am
>wondering if there is an accepted approach for handling research
>questions that involve staff participation.  Of course, if they can come
>
>in to the Center, I try to help them get started with their research,
>but then it is up to them.
>
>One individual had a several part question in which he asked me to send
>him a couple of pages on each part of the question.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Barbara Ware
>
>--
>Barbara E. Ware
>Librarian/Archivist
>Tampa Bay History Center
>P.O. BOX 948
>Tampa, FL 33601-0948
>email: [log in to unmask]
>homepage: http://home1.gte.net/thistory
>