Daniel J. Linke, Acting Associate University Librarian for Special Collections
1 Week Ago
Service in Special Collections
Reading Elyse Graham ’07’s essay (“At Princeton, I Learned About the Deceptiveness of Archives,” February issue), we want to update the record to reflect the significant changes within Special Collections that have occurred in the two decades since Graham was a student.
As our users know, service is at the heart of our mission, with our focus on promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment. Our collections are available to all, and in rare cases where restrictions are necessary, they are applied consistently by policy, not arbitrarily by individuals. Special Collections staff are rightly proud of the welcoming environment and services that they provide. In the last year alone, we had more than 2,200 students come for classes, 4,700 reading room visitors, and we answered over 6,000 email inquiries. This does not include those who have accessed the millions of digitized pages from our collections freely available to the world via the internet.
I was sorry to read about the less-than-happy experience of 20 years ago but I’m proud to say that this does not reflect the user experience today.
Reading Elyse Graham ’07’s essay (“At Princeton, I Learned About the Deceptiveness of Archives,” February issue), we want to update the record to reflect the significant changes within Special Collections that have occurred in the two decades since Graham was a student.
As our users know, service is at the heart of our mission, with our focus on promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment. Our collections are available to all, and in rare cases where restrictions are necessary, they are applied consistently by policy, not arbitrarily by individuals. Special Collections staff are rightly proud of the welcoming environment and services that they provide. In the last year alone, we had more than 2,200 students come for classes, 4,700 reading room visitors, and we answered over 6,000 email inquiries. This does not include those who have accessed the millions of digitized pages from our collections freely available to the world via the internet.
I was sorry to read about the less-than-happy experience of 20 years ago but I’m proud to say that this does not reflect the user experience today.