Draft standard available for public comment / Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries
Special issue 13 (2) of RBM: a journal for rare books, manuscripts, and cultural heritage
The SAA–ACRL/RBMS Joint Task Force on the Development of Standardized Statistical Measures for Public Services in Archival Repositories and Special Collections Libraries has posted for public comment an initial draft standard. The task force, which was formed in 2015, arose from the profession’s recognition of the need to be able to to “gather and analyze evidence concerning the effectiveness of their services and the efficiency of their operations” (Dupont, 2012). This desire was so visible that an entire special issue of RBM was dedicated to addressing concerns and needs. The Joint Task Force is responsible for development of a new standard defining appropriate statistical measures and performance metrics to govern the collection and analysis of statistical data for describing public services provided by archival repositories and special collections libraries.
The Standard describes and quantifies users of special collections and archival materials and services and their usage of the same, including reading room paging/circulation, paging/circulation of materials for other purposes (e.g., class/events, exhibits, reference questions, conservation, processing), reference interactions (in person and via email), reproduction orders (numbers of orders and pages photocopied/digitized), interlibrary loan requests (physical, digital; filled, not filled), and events (e.g., numbers and characteristics of class visits, exhibits [physical and virtual], tours, programs, etc).
On the RBMS website, the document has been mounted using the Hypothes.is plugin for WordPress, which allows anyone to leave comments linked to individual phrases and sentences within the document. See: http://rbms.info/digress/publicservicesstats/.
On the SAA website, visitors may leave comments on each section or download the entire document as a PDF file. See: http://www2.archivists.org/groups/saa-acrlrbms-joint-task-force-on-public-services-metrics/new-standard-for-measuring-public-se
Comments may also be sent via email to Task Force co-chairs Amy Schindler acschindler@unomaha.edu (SAA) and Christian Dupont christian.dupont@bc.edu (ACRL/RBMS).
The deadline for comments on this initial draft is Monday, August 22, 2016. A revised draft will be posted for comment later this year.
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