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Anyone planning a trip to RGVA in the near future should bear in mind that, thanks to the presence there of the Expert Declassification Commission, researchers can only order 5 dela per day instead of the usual 10. This, combined with the fact that more and more dela are being put on microfilm-- which take two or three days to arrive in the reading room (one of my orders this week took three days)--means that you should give yourself much more time than usual to work. The staff have also become more strict when it comes to ordering files. Microfilmed files and paper files must be ordered on separate trebovaniia. Earlier, when one made the mistake of putting one or two of them together, they would deliver it to you anyway and tell you to do it right next time. Now, however, they will not deliver the microfilm, which means waiting another couple of days to receive them. In addition, there is now a fee for use of a notebook computer (145 r.) which must be paid at Sberbank. Receipt of a postoiannyi propusk is also now limited to those using the archive "for a year" (which is what the staff told me when I asked them for one). This means that you must wait at the biuro propuskov window *every time* you visit, which can mean waiting for up to 30 minutes for someone to appear there (though someone usually appears within fifteen or twenty). The upshot is to give yourself an extra week to work here, as the staff's re-adherence to formalities slows work down considerably. John Ondrovcik Harvard University
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
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