Personal Library Experiences

The section contains personal experiences and evaluations by scholars of various libraries, archives, and research sites. We are less interested in overall holdings than in what a scholar will actually experience. What sort of prior knowledge will a scholar need to make relatively efficient use of the time in this location? What does a typical document look like. (We would be happy to scan in a clean xerox of a typical document for the discussion of a particular archive). Perhaps the scholar could briefly discuss problems of this type of document - are diacritics missing, what about specialized vocabulary, how good is the handwriting, what sort of detail does one find, are documents dated, is authorship clear, what condition are the documents in? Beyond the documents, what is the ethos of the place? What is actually involved in getting access? What is available in open stacks? How good are the indices to the collection? How much of the collection seems to be uncatalogued? How are the facilities, such as light and desk space? Will materials be held at scholar's desk overnight? Besides the stated hours, what time does the archive or library actually roll into gear? What are the real, functional hours? How does one actually order a book or document? How long is the rhythm between ordering a book or document and getting it? Who needs to be taken out for tea? How about periodically buying tea for the whole staff? How about holidays? How about copying facilities? Is photography allowed? Is it pencil only? White gloves? Is it possible to find translators? Copyists? Is the library or archive helpful in this process?

We strongly encourage members to write and share their experiences and expertise with members who can use them. We encourage reviews of libraries and archives large and small, well-known and obscure. Reviews will be updated and modified as members report back from more recent research. Instructions for posting to this section are located on the home page.

Personal experience at the Pune Daftar, Pune, India

| Accomodations | Libraries | Research | Links | News & Notes | Intellectual Project | Membership | |