Because of these extra precautions, many students find archives intimidating to use at first. So don't be intimidated. The point made above about the necessity of asking librarians for guidance is doubly true of asking archivists for guidance in their archives. While there are general standards which govern the arrangement of archival materials, the wide variation in manuscript collections means that every archive is different. Even the most experienced researcher will need to ask for assistance on the first visit to an unfamiliar archive.
Archivists expect researchers to ask for guidance.
It is important, first of all, to point out that the internet, while simple to use, is a highly unreliable resource for research. It should be used as a corroborating resource only, never as a replacement for library and archive resources. Any resources found online must be rigorously evaluated before they can be utilized, and, in general, any resources found on domains other than .edu, .org, or .gov should be treated with extreme skepticism. For guidelines on evaluating online resources, refer to Evaluating a Website . That said, however, the internet can be a real boon to the careful researcher.