Services
The service desk for the Center for Archival Collections is located on the 5th floor of the Jerome Library, on the main campus of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Our collections are open to the public, but they do not circulate; all materials must be used in the reading room. We are open Monday-Friday from 8 to 5. We have evening hours available by appointment Mondays 5-8. Contact us if you would like to make a Monday evening appointment.
For all researchers, we recommend contacting us prior to your visit so we can have materials ready for you to begin research when you arrive.
Reference Services
If distance or scheduling conflicts do not allow you to visit to the Center for Archival Collections, we provide remote reference services to help you find the answer to your questions through telephone inquiry, reference chat, and our Ask an Archivist service.
Guidelines
The Center for Archival Collections provides phone, chat, and email reference services to BGSU faculty, staff, and students; and to the general public. This service is provided by library staff as well as trained student employees. You will receive confirmation of your query within two (2) business days. Researched responses may take up to ten (10) business days. Follow-up requests may also take up to 10 business days for a researched response.
When using remote reference, please include the following:
Genealogical queries must include: the name of the individual to be searched for, the type (birth certificate, marriage license, naturalization record, etc.), location (county) of the record, and the dates of interest.
For local government records only: if you can provide an exact citation for the record (county, office, record group, volume), CAC staff will make limited reproductions (when the research fetching takes < 30 minutes) at no charge. Queries lacking this data will be delayed.
Fees
The Center for Archival Collections will investigate all queries received via phone or email for thirty (30) minutes at no cost. For more time-intensive research, a fee applies. A maximum of two (2) additional hours of research can be performed by CAC staff or students at the rate of $25/hour.
If inquiries or reproduction requests require more than 2 hours of staff time, it must be negotiated in advance. If your query requires an extensive amount of research, you may require an independent researcher for hire. Please contact the Reference Archivist via email or phone (419.372.2411) for a list of known researchers.
We accept credit cards. Credit cards will be billed for the hours expended on research, requested reproductions, postage/handling (if applicable), and 6.5% sales tax (Ohio residents only) prior to shipment of material. For more information on services and fees, visit our Photo & Document Reproduction page.
Updated: 08/18/2023 04:05PM