Developing Policies for Managing a Genealogical Collection
A. Mission and vision statements: What is the purpose of the collection today? What will be its purpose in the future?
B. Acquisitions: What types of materials will you purchase for the collection? Books? Periodicals? Micro-forms? Maps? Family genealogies? Will you maintain vertical files of family and local history information? What materials will you not purchase? Will you welcome donations to the collection? What types of materials and under what circumstances?
C. Circulation: What materials will circulate? What materials will not?
D. Inter-library Loan: Will you borrow materials from other libraries that your library does not own? Will you lend your materials to other libraries?
E. Reference: What reference services will you offer? Will you answer questions via U.S. mail, e-mail, Web site, telephone, or just in person? Will you charge for answering questions? Will you charge for photocopies of materials requested by patrons? Will you provide handouts and guides to genealogists, both beginners and advanced researchers? Will you provide genealogical data forms? Where will you get them?
