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Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 2000 



Visitor Information and Associates' 

 Reception Center 



Mary Grace Potter, Director 



During fiscal year 2000, the Visitor Information and Associ- 

 ates' Reception Centet (VIARC) continued to pursue its 

 mission to broaden the public's knowledge, appreciation, 

 and enjoyment of the Institution and to facilitate and pro- 

 mote participation in its programs and activities. 



As a central support organization and the principal con- 

 tact point for information about the Smithsonian, VIARC's 

 work was carried out through the Smithsonian Information 

 Center (SIC); the Internet; museum information/membet re- 

 ception desks; response services for public and member mail, 

 telephone and electronic inquiries; outreach to the toutism 

 industry; outdoor wayfinding stations; two large volunteer 

 programs that provided primary support for the Institution's 

 public information activities and for staff project assistance 

 behind the scenes; and a docent program for the Castle. 



Operating from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, the Smith- 

 sonian Information Center attracted 1,836,963 visitors. 

 Reception services were provided to 19,856 Associate mem- 

 bers and their families; 2,830 memberships were sold 

 representing $94,258 in revenue. Docents led 226 tours 

 of the Castle, which engaged 2,643 public and Associate 

 participants. In January the Castle was closed to allow recar- 

 peting of the Information Center and other public areas, a 

 major project planned and overseen by VIARC. 



Information desk services were provided daily by a corps 

 of 662 Volunteer Information Specialists in 13 museums 

 through December 1999. The closing of rhe Gallery Place 

 museums in January 2000 reduced the number of museums 

 served to 1 1 for the remainder of the year. Sixty-two new 

 volunteers were recruited, trained, and placed in desk 

 assignments across the Institution, and the majority of the 

 displaced SAAM/NPG volunteers received other desk as- 

 signments; the "InfoSpecial" newsletter was produced and 

 distributed quarterly; and 130 in-service enrichment oppot- 

 tunities were offered to volunteer participants as a means of 

 incteasing their knowledge and understanding of the Insti- 

 tution's work and collections. 



Incoming public inquiry mail, including electronic in- 

 quiries (16,466), numbered a total of 34,703. Capability to 

 respond on-line facilitated answers to some 10,131 inquiries 

 originating primarily from the World Wide Web. The latter 

 represents a 4 percent increase in on-line response to electronic 

 inquiries over the previous year. Seventeen new bibliogra- 

 phies, facr sheets, and leaflets were created and uploaded to 

 the Web on subjects from anthropology to zoology. Twenty 

 others were created or revised for individual responses. The 

 Sales Reference List was updated and published quarterly. 

 Outgoing mail in response to both mail and phone inquities 

 numbered more than 55,984 pieces. 



Public telephone inquiries documented by VIARC num- 

 bered more than 267,200. This number is lower than the 

 actual number of calls handled, as many callers received an- 

 swers to their questions from information provided on 



incoming lines before calls reached an Information Special- 

 ist. The latter is a feature of our new Lucent ESC telephone 

 system, which speeds up caller assistance but does not regis- 

 ter such calls as answered in the data collection. Factors 

 influencing the volume of calls this year included the Sal- 

 vador Dali exhibition at HMSG, NASM's Michael Jordan 

 IMAX, The Folklife Festival (Dalai Lama), and visitor confu- 

 sion about etratic summer museum hours. 



Total volunteers participating in the Behind-the-Scenes 

 Volunteer Program during the year numbered 1,093. These 

 volunreers contributed more than 157,863 hours of service 

 to projects across the Institution. One hundred thirty-eight 

 new project requests from staff were received during the 

 year, bringing the total number of projects on file to 577. 

 Translations completed by volunteer translators numbered 

 107 in 11 languages. 



Efforts to address the Institution's accessibility and cul- 

 tural diversity goals were ongoing. Twenty-six percent of 

 new Volunteer Information Specialists represented minority 

 constituencies. Fourteen percent of new volunteers placed in 

 projects behind the scenes were known to be minorities. 

 Printed activity "Samplers" were produced for all Heritage 

 Celebtations, and 24-hour recorded information tapes were 

 also developed. As updates were required, publications were 

 revised to reflect adherence to accessibility guidelines and 

 primary publications were provided in alternate formats at 

 all information desks for disttibution to visitors. In addition, 

 tours of the SIB were offered in Spanish during Hispanic 

 Heritage Month and on a request 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. Other efforts included uploading 

 all Heritage Month activities to the Web and promotion of 

 same in the SIC theaters. Without question, the year's most 

 rewarding and team-oriented efforts were those directed at 

 broadening our volunteer base to include blind and low- 

 vision candidates. Activities included, but were not limited 

 to, the development of appropriate training and testing 

 methodologies, creation of an accessible Web site, new hard- 

 ware and software, and desk adjustments and workshop 

 instructions for sraff and volunteers alike to ensute a com- 

 fortable working environment. 



The Institution-wide volunteer survey conducted annually 

 through VIARC counted a total of 5,799 volunteers who 

 contributed some 449,470 hours of service during fiscal year 

 2000. Volunteer participation was acknowledged appropri- 

 ately through appreciation events, service pins, the annual 

 January supplement to The Torch, and inclusion in the vari- 

 ous Staff Open Houses sponsored through the Community 

 Committee. Volunteer service pins and certificates of appre- 

 ciation were redesigned to be logo compliant, which also 

 netted an improved appearance and more durable product. 



Appreciation events for participants in VIARC's two vol- 

 unteer programs included remarks by Secretary Small at the 

 spring event for behind-the-scenes volunteers where special 

 awards were presented to volunteer teams from the NASM 

 Library /Archives and the Office of Horticulture. Under Sec- 

 retary Constance Newman spoke at the December 



