[Genealib] Obit lookups

[Susan Scouras]

We treat obituary lookups like any other research request, with an
upfront fee of $5.00 for in-state and $15.00 for out-of-state, for two
specific record search requests.  This buys the patron 1/2 hour of staff
time, first $2.50 (at $.50 per page for microfilm, $.25 for standard
photocopies) of copy costs, and a reply letter with postage. We
emphasize that the fee pays for staff time for the search, and must be
paid regardless of outcome of the search. We specify that there may be
extra charges for additional search time or for additional copies. We
receive very few complaints or objections to these policies.
 
Our newspaper collection covers the entire state, with most counties
having a paper or set of papers that go back a hundred years or more.
Several counties have two or more newspapers that thrived for decades
simultaneously, and did not always print the same things (often one was
Democrat and the other was Republican, which affected the size and depth
of an obituary, depending on the politics of the deceased).  In most
cases, we will search all available newspapers for that geographic area
and date range.  We search at least 5 issues of a daily paper and 4
issues of a weekly paper before giving up.  In earlier time periods this
means scanning entire newspapers, since regular obit or death notice
columns were seldom used. 
 
If an exact date of death is not known and we can find a death record
relatively quickly, we will provide both the death record and the
obituary we were able to find using the death record information, and
will charge accordingly.
 
Unless you maintain obit files from only one or a few newspapers and
therefore are not actually searching, I think many of you are
undercharging for obits.  It doesn't matter if you are using volunteers
for the lookups and mailing.  The time required and use of your machines
have to be factored in.  I know some public libraries consider this a
public service, which is fine, but it makes it hard on those of us who
don't receive federal funds to stay alive.  (We won't go into the grief
that $.10 copies cause those of us who don't allow patrons to make their
own copies, and can't afford to offer such a minimal price for the
service.)
 
Susan Scouras
Librarian
WV Archives and History Library
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
Charleston, WV  25305-0300
(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.acomp.usf.edu/pipermail/genealib/attachments/20060603/67f4d115/attachment.html