3rd January 2013, 02:26 PM
You don't have to go to the HER to do research. It's nice to be able to, but it may be more time-consuming than other forms of research that are just as effective, and could be a complete waste of time (records too poorly sorted to use, lots of very out-of-date popular books, etc.). There are other sources for the necessary background information (university libraries, society libraries, the British Library, the NMR who will copy and post APs, etc.). Getting hold of grey lit. reports can be a problem, granted, but a lot of reports are on the internet these days and if there's one in the HER I really need and can't get otherwise, they will sometimes take my money to scan or photocopy it and send it to me.
A visit to the archive/local studies library is (almost always) essential, but the HER? Not so much.
Just in case it's not patently obvious, I'm not suggesting that desk-based reports should just parrot back the HER database, but that there are other ways to carry out an assessment of potential, significance and impact than rooting through the boxes of original site records etc. alluded to above.
A visit to the archive/local studies library is (almost always) essential, but the HER? Not so much.
Just in case it's not patently obvious, I'm not suggesting that desk-based reports should just parrot back the HER database, but that there are other ways to carry out an assessment of potential, significance and impact than rooting through the boxes of original site records etc. alluded to above.