Polly,
It was good to meet you in San Antonio! I'll do my best to answer your
questions. As I answer the questions, I am painfully aware that what we do
now is not always what we'd like to be doing with our webpage. Since I've
taken it on as a an addtional responsibility, I find I do not have enough
time to change the page as often as I would like.
Jeannette Dixon
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
>I am a student in the MLS program at Texas Woman's University. I have been
>asked to draft an electronic access policy for the art museum library where I
>am fulfilling my practicum. The library is primarily a focused research
>collection designed to meet curatorial needs. The museum's webpage is under
>construction and has plans to provide a link for e-mail questions about the
>collection. It is my hope that those of you who use this type of reference
>format will share your experience. Please answer all or any of the questions
>specifically addressed, or just offer more general information if you prefer.
>If you will answer me directly (off-list), I will summarize the answers I
>receive and post the summary to the list for general information.
>
>
>1. Does your website have a link for someone to send a question about your
>collection?
The link is at the bottom of our main page (the first page) and it is simply
my email address.
Is a librarian or curator named in this connection, or is the
>patron sending a message blindly?
The patron is sending it blindly.
If there is no direct link by which to send
>inquiries, is an e-mail address provided so that questions may be addressed to
>the library?
Again, it is my email address in the library.
Do you have a separate and specific mailbox into which such
>questions are delivered?
There is not a separate mailbox for the web questions, but I have created a
separate file in Eudora to keep them in.
>
>2. We are thinking of including a number of finding aids on our website (e.g.,
>exhibition histories, manuscript collection, artist files, staff directories,
>museum histories, etc.). Can you offer any advice or suggestions about what
>would be successful and what would not?
The idea of finding aids is interesting, but we have not even put a page up
for the Library yet. I think most people want to see images of the museum's
collection, and get some information on particular objects.
Do you offer a link allowing access
>to the museum's collection management system?
No, although we participate in the MESL project, which makes over 1,000 of
our objects available over the web to 5 different university campuses. We
have only included 40 fields of information which were taken from our
collection management system.
Do you limit how it is availble? n/a
>
>3. Did the quantity of reference questions increase dramatically once your
>library offered electronic access?
No, I get three or four questions from the web a week now.
Did the website seem to encourage other
>formats of reference questions (i.e., phone, mail, etc.) as well, or a new type
>of reference question (e.g., students looking for homework assistance)?
That is impossible to tell. We are open to the public and help a lot of
students with assignments already.
Are
>e-mail questions handled differently than other reference requests?
I try to answer them within a day or two of receipt. Many questions have to
be directed to other departments within the museum, so I let the inquirer
know that I have passed it on.
Have you
>adopted a specific time frame in which you expect to answer e-mail reference
>questions? (see above answer)
Is there a limit to the amount of time you expend on e-mail
>reference questions? yes, in general if it is a quick look-up, I'lll
answer; if not, I'll recommend where the inquirer can go t do some research
Do you make copies and mail or fax them to e-mail
>patrons? only rarely
Do you charge a fee for this service? no
>
>4. How do you prioritize requests? it depends on how much time I have
Would someone using the e-mail link be
>asked to identify himself in some way? no
Do you have a form that the link
>goes to, or just an e-mail link in which they can start typing? the second
Do you have
>any types of consortial agreements or other types of user categories which
>receive priority? this has not come into play regarding email reference,
but we are members of RLG and do give RLG libraries priority in interlibrary
loans
>
>5. At what point do you refer an e-mail qustion to the curatorial staff?
if the question has to do with objects in their collection, or their
expertise is called for to answer the question (that is, the question cannot
be answered from library resources)
At
>what point do you refer an e-mail patron to his or her local library?
Although I have not had to do this yet, I would if they had a question that
needed time to research, and a public library collection would be adequate
for the topic
>
>6. Do you have a written electronic access policy? no
How may be obtain a copy
>of it? n/a
>
>
>
>I appreciate your time and energy in answering these questions or offering
>input about any related issues that I may have overlooked. I apologize for the
>length of this query. I tried to cover all my bases in one swoop. THANKS!
>
>Polly Trump
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