58 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999 



edged in the annual Torch supplement. The annual Smith- 

 sonian-wide volunteer survey documented a total of 5,408 

 volunteers who contributed some 475,597 hours of service to 

 the Institution during fiscal year 1999. Appreciation events 

 for each of VIARC's volunteer groups were held with the 

 Secretary speaking at both the winter and spring events. 



Some 6,000 comment fotms received from visitors/callers 

 were processed and referred to the appropriate museums/ 

 programs for information and handling. 



Postal and electronic public mail inquiries numbered 

 34,958. Electronic correspondence continued to escalate 

 (15,585) reflecting an 80 percent increase over FY 1998. 

 Almost two thirds of the electronic requests (9,776) were 

 handled on-line. All preprinted resource materials (100 + ) 

 were updated or revised at least twice during the year. Thir- 

 teen new fact sheets/bibliographies were created/uploaded to 

 the World Wide Web. The Sales Reference List was updated 

 and published quarterly. Outgoing responses to both mail 

 and phone tequests for information numbered more than 

 75,700. Documented public phone traffic handled through 

 VIARC numbered 287,300 calls. (This figure is lower than 

 the traffic actually handled because system ctashes and the 

 installation of the new Lucent phone program and hardware 

 destroyed large segments of data.) Activities resulting in a 

 high volume of telephone calls included "Star Wars" at 

 NASM, "Van Gogh" at NGA, the Freer film series, Everest 

 at the Langley Theater, and the NATO weekend. 



In FY 1999, 1,224 volunteets were active in the Behind- 

 the-Scenes program, contributing more than 171,437 houts 

 of service in departments, divisions, and offices across the 

 Institution. Translations completed fot staff members by the 

 program's translators numbered 1 16 in 13 languages. One 

 hundred twenty-seven new requests from staff for project as- 

 sistance were received during the year, bringing the total 

 number of projects on file to 557. 



Efforts to address the Institution's accessibility and cul- 

 tural diversity goals were ongoing. Volunteer recruitment 

 efforts continued to be successful in reaching a broad cul- 

 tutal pool. Of all new Volunteer Information Specialists and 

 Behind-the-Scenes Volunteets, 24 percent and 30 percent, 

 respectively, tepresented minority constituencies. VIARC 

 staff played leadership roles on planning committees for all 

 Heritage Month celebrations. Tours of the SIB were offered 

 in Spanish during Hispanic Heritage Month and on a re- 

 quest basis throughout the year. The Tourism Outreach 

 Coordinator attended the annual La Cumbre marketplace to 

 promote travel to the Institution/D.C. from Latin America. 

 Efforts to further accessibility were numerous, including ini- 

 tial planning to accommodate two blind and one low-vision 

 candidate for the Volunteet Information Specialist corps; 

 the design and installation of the new NMNH information 

 desk; supply of WP and ASCII copies of the SI and Access 

 brochures to all information desks for distribution to the 

 public; uploading all Heritage Month activities to the Web; 

 promotion of same in the Information Center rheaters, via 

 special recordings and through quarterly "Samplers" mailed 

 in previsit packets; and redesign of the video cover for Guide 

 to the Smithsonian. 



Greater use of technology enabled VIARC to streamline 

 internal and external communication and to facilitate on- 

 going information service responsibilities. Information re- 

 sources (monthly exhibition directories, calendars, and other 

 reference materials) were produced in hard copy and made 

 available on-line to staff and volunteers through VIARC cus- 

 tom programs and to the public via the Web. Information 

 on some 1,758 public programs was edited and formatted 

 for the chronological calendar alone. Increased use of the 

 capacity to produce "flash notes" through our in-house Info- 

 Tools program alerted staff and volunteers to last-minute 

 changes in information reducing previously required hard- 

 copy memoranda by over 40 percent. In addition, moving 

 the Information Center's interactive program from laser disk 

 to hatd drive reduced text entry from three programs to one, 

 eliminating reformatting for separate programs, thus lessen- 

 ing the chance for error and saving hours of repetitive work 

 and proofing time. 



VIARC printed 26 publications using outside vendors 

 and produced 62 in house including a new style manual and 

 special Folklife binders. The Guide to the Nation's Capital and 

 the Smithsonian Institution was updated and redesigned. A 50 

 percent increase in requests to review SI information in out- 

 side publications occurred boosting the annual total to 54. 



Estimates indicate VIARC served some 400,000 visitors a 

 month via the Web. Up-to-date information was available 

 on planning a visit, new exhibitions, public programs, and 

 answers to frequently asked questions. In addition, the Ency- 

 clopedia Smithsonian Web site, created and maintained by 

 VIARC, functioned successfully as an index to the Smithson- 

 ian's vast resources and was the recipient of a second Dow 

 Jones Business Directory "Select Site" award. Some 225 fact 

 sheets/bibliographies were available to the public from the 

 Encyclopedia site, which continued to be a work in progress. 



On the tour and travel front, quarrerly mailings to pro- 

 mote Smithsonian activities were sent to some 1,600 

 domestic/international tour operators, and 400,000 At A 

 Glance leaflets were distributed to hotels/motels/infotmation 

 centers and travel agents. VIARC represented the Smithson- 

 ian at the three major travel trade shows, NTA, TIAA, and 

 ABA, and also attended La Cumbre. A total of 290 tour op- 

 erators requested and received meetings with VIARC's 

 Outreach Cootdinator. Significant time and effort were ex- 

 pended assisting SITES, NMNH-Discovery Center/Johnson 

 Theater/Eurest and the Craft Show in promoting their activ- 

 ities to the travel industry with very positive results. 



The NATO 50th Summit presented the most taxing prob- 

 lem of the year. To advise travel industry contacts of limited 

 National Mall access and minimize the impact on clients, an 

 "urgent" informational memorandum was sent to some 1,000 

 tour operators; faxes were sent to NTA online, ABA, DC 

 Concierge, WCVA, the D.C. Chamber and TravelFile. 



VIARC cohosted with WCVA an educational breakfast 

 seminar for participants traveling to La Cumbre and worked 

 with SITES to host a reception for D.C. Concierge to pro- 

 mote "Microbes." 



Work continued with the Downtown D.C. Business Im- 

 provement District (DBID) signage committee. Text was 



