In a 2004 article entitled “‘Contact Us’: Archivists and Remote Users in the Digital Age,” Katharine Salzmann begins by discussing a challenge facing archivists at repositories with developing web presences. As a repository’s web presence increases, patron expectations for remote, electronic access to archival material increases, and archivists must prepare to address these changing expectations. In this article, Salzmann discusses a survey of 100 web pages of university archives to gain an understanding of the impact of increased web presence.
In her analysis, Salzmann considered the availability of online finding aids, the existence of digitized online manuscripts or publications, the existence digitized photographs, and the existence of contact information to promote contact with the repository. Her results showed that while 46% of repositories provided online finding aids (this number would surely be much larger if a similar study was done in 2010), only 7% of the repositories provided digitized document content, and only 14% of repositories provided digitized photographs. Not surprisingly, nearly all of the websites (97%) provided either a general or specific email address or provided a general contact web form.
While Salzmann’s article prompts interesting questions to be asked, further research is necessary to fully understand the questions she poses. For example, a study of the impact on the number of online finding aids added on the number of reference inquiries would better allow archivists to anticipate the effects of increased web presence. Furthermore, patron satisfaction surveys which provide information about preferable means of contacting an archives would better allow archivists to understand the best ways to facilitate and initiate patron-archivist interaction.
Salzmann, Katharine A.(2004) "'Contact Us': Archivists and Remote Users in the Digital Age", The Reference Librarian, 41: 85, 43-50.
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