Hello Fellows and Friends (particularly Mary Johnson in Colorado),

American Memory did have a period of slow and then no service on Tuesday
(2/5), but was well again, yesterday.  Things appear a little slow right
now, but it's kind of a peak time <http://www.loc.gov/stats/hourly.day.gif>
on the site.  (It's 11:15 am Thursday as I type this.)  Please try again
and let us know if you encounter anything not working as it should.

The place to contact when things go wrong with American Memory is the
American Memory Help Desk <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/helpdesk/>.  There's
a link on the bottom of the American Memory Home Page and at the bottom of
every collection home page.  The Help Desk has a link to an error report
form <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/helpdesk/error.html>, as well as a link
to the AM Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/helpdesk/amfaq.html>.  The last FAQ takes you
to another web form <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/helpdesk/amform.html>
where users (including you) can post your questions and/or comments.  The
form is designed to remind users to give us information to help us answer
your questions better.

There is a similar questions/comments form
<http://memory.loc.gov/learn/orientation/faq/comment.html> on the Learning
Page.  It's behind the "Questions?" link on most pages, except the Learning
Page's front door page.  The Learning Page FAQ list
<http://memory.loc.gov/learn/orientation/faq/lpfaq.html> is similar to the
other one, but the questions and answers are streamlined and aimed a little
more at students and educators.

All these forms are connected to two email addresses:  [log in to unmask]
(the Help Desk) and [log in to unmask] (the Learning Page) which are reviewed
several times daily.  If you want, you may write directly to these email
addresses, but we prefer you use the forms when you can, since they prompt
you to provide useful information to us.  Problem reports are sent off to
the technical team right away and are often fixed minutes after they get
them.  Reference Questions are assigned to members of the reference team
for replies within a few days.

I hope this is useful information.

Later,

Betty Brown



At 05:05 PM 2/6/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Memory Fellows <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       Mary Johnson <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Search troubles
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Hello fellows!
>
>I had planned an immigration unit with a teacher this week using images
>from American Memory, but we have not been able to do any searching on
>the AM site other than direct links to pre-selected collections and sources.
>I have failed to find a feedback link for tech support at LOC, so I'm
>wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. I apologize if this
>is not the proper forum, but I didn't know what else to do!
>
>I just completed a simple Readers Theatre project with an 8th grade
>class using the Frederick Douglass collection. Has anyone else done
>Readers Theatre with American Memory narratives?
>
>Mary Johnson
>Library Media Specialist/Technology Coordinator
>Eagleview Middle School
>1325 Vindicator Dr.
>Colorado Springs, CO 80919
>Phone: 719-548-0316
>Fax: 719-598-8402
>
>
>---------------------------------------------
>Academy School District Twenty 20Mail

  _________________________________________________________

    Elizabeth L. Brown
    Digital Reference Librarian
    Library of Congress, Washington, DC  20540-4604
    [log in to unmask]                telephone: 202/707-2235

    Library of Congress American Memory Home Page:
    http://memory.loc.gov/
_________________________________________________________