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Re: Who Decides



Thursday's Toledo Blade, not surprisingly, has an editorial plus two letters to the editor from former employees of the Ohio Historical Society who differ in view. As might be expected, the editorial writer talks about dusty volumes being microfilmed (Hasn't David Gracy reminded us he doesn't like to use dusty volumes, that we should clean things up before they get used?) and concludes that "Preservation of original state records is not optional, it's mandatory." Sounds like they still don't want to listen to us, doesn't it? Ah, how editorial writers can be both good and horrid.

Lee Kopp has a right to make a complaint. The SOA list serve posted messages from him months ago if not a year or two. What was to be said? The Ohio Historical Society obviously has a public relations problem on its hands. But these sometimes do go away. I cannot say with certainly but I believe the OHS board has discussed the matter over the past months. The board includes a sizeable number of individuals who are appointed by the governor. Maybe it will get back there. Now Mr. Kopp has, as is his right, gone to the press. The Toledo Blade has every right to write about this. Yet it appears he is a man on a mission. And he has allies in this quest who include archivists who have disagreed with OHS and its endeavors and leadership over time. Inside the state, this squabble involves both politics and personalities; it is not only a matter of principle. The newspaper stories lean toward critics of the society. That is the way life is. Sometimes questions with four or five sides to them get reduced to an either/or answer. Then again, many crusades never achieve more than half their goals.

I cannot say what OHS should do or how it should now respond. I can neither tell Mr. Kopp to continue on nor to go away. I can argue that legislators and governors too frequently neglect archivists and others who care greatly for cultural heritage resources, so am willing to take to task the Ohio legislator who nows fulminates about the need for an investigation. What does he expect? If only, in general terms, they would give us more than bones, give us the means to build and sustain outstanding programs across the board. I can hope the newspaper would contact archival representatives such as SOA officers as readily as academic historians. I can add that this story is not alone; the paper also had a recent and telling series about electronic records procedures in state universities. Yet, as the quote from the editorial attests, it may be good for archivists to share perspectives with editorial writers and reporters at some upcoming meeting of the newspaper association. This message doesn't claim to have all the answers; it reflects only one person's perspective.

I wish I knew where we will go from here in Ohio. A former employee of OHS myself--local government records archivist, 1977-87--I was and remain saddened at the reduced state of that part of the state archives' operations. I also want to point to some of the accomplishments that have been made at OHS. It has made great strides in the adjustments we are all having to make to electronic technology. Its web-based death index receives an astounding number of hits. It has worked in team fashion to develop an electronic records policy for state government. It has developed a GILS system. These are positives that need to be kept in mind in this matter.

Stay tuned. But it's getting late this evening. So over and out.



________
George W. Bain, Head of Archives & Special Collections
Ohio University Libraries, Athens, OH 45701-2978
Tel. 740.593.2710 Fax 740.593.0138
Email <gbain1@ohiou.edu>
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