[Michlib-l] obituary requests

[Cathy Sullivan Seblonka]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses to my query regarding charges for
obituary requests.

10 libraries do not charge for answering obit requests. One library does
the work for free but accepts a donation for the work.

We charge $1.00 per obit, by the way.

Here are nine various responses about charging.

In Hastings, the work is done for us by Genealogy Club volunteers.  When
our staff member mails the material or emails it, we send a letter asking
for a donation. Most people respond with $5-$25 depending on the
complexity of the request.  The money is accumulated in a separate line in
our donations report so we know how much we received and the Genealogy
Club selects improvements to our collections using those funds. This
process was in place when I arrived here 7+ years ago so I do not know how
complicated it was to get it started but it continues to work well.

Here in Marshall we offer obituary look-up services for free. If it is an
extensive research question, we might mention that donations are
appreciated.

At Dickinson we charge $5 for every 15 minutes of research with a $5
minimum charge.  Photocopies/printouts and postage are additional:
http://dcl-lib.flolinemedia.net/refsearch
This only applies for requests by those outside the library.  We do not
charge for assisting patrons in our facility regardless of whether they
are a card holder. :)

Our library charges $10 an hour if a staff has to do the search and the
patron must mail us the check plus return postage to send them what we
find.

We usually don't charge, per se, but suggest "a small donation" to the
library, particularly if there is a long list.  Our official policy says
free for the first hour, then a certain amount (I forget how much - ten or
eleven dollars, I think, per hour) after.

We do not have the staff to perform obituary searches, nor do we have 
much of an obituary file to work from. Therefore our general response is 
that we do not provide this service. If it is a reasonable request with 
plenty of detail where it is simply a matter of locating the appropriate 
microfiche roll or newspaper binder, then I will try to perform the 
search. I don't charge a fee for this if the information can be sent 
electronically (scan to email). If they stipulate they want prints and 
mailing, it would cost $.15 per page plus postage.
If someone is just casting a wide net  as part of a genealogy search and 
expecting us to do the heavy lifting (for example, do you have any 
information about John Smith who lived around the St. Louis area in the 
late 1800's and may have died in Gratiot County, no known middle name,  no
birth date, and just a rough guess of the year in which they died?),  I
direct them to contact the Clarke Historical Library or the Gratiot 
County Historical and Genealogical Society since they both provide 
genealogy queries and have established fees for the services.

We charge only for printing. If the obit may be scanned and attached to an
email, there is no charge. We answer all reference questions as time and
staff allow.

we charge $1 per week of searching, plus 25 cents per copy from microfilm,
plus postage. We send a bill with the copies. Researchers must know the
date of death. If they don't and we have the microfilm for the appropriate
death records, we charge $1 for that search. Otherwise, they may be able
to call the courthouse to get the date of death over the phone.

Currently we are asking for a donation. A $10 donation pretty much covers
lots of non-donation requests.

It's such fun knowing all of you are out there ready with answers to
everything. Cathy


Cathy Sullivan Seblonka
Collection Development/Reference Librarian
Peter White Public Library
217 N. Front St.
Marquette, MI 49855
906-226-4312
cathys at pwpl.info