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New Yorker Article



I have not read the NEW YORKER article, but if it is the same author who
wrote the articles about the old library catalogs, then the author is
Nicholson Baker, a novelist and literary essayist.  His two articles on
old library catalogs can be found in his volume THE SIZE OF THOUGHTS:
ESSAYS AND OTHER LUMBER (New York: Vintage Books, 1997).  I am surprized
that archivists on the list seem to be uncertain about this guy, since his
articles caused a furor in library circles and they had tremendous
implications for library archives.  He got interested in the topic because
of the move of the San Francisco Public Library into its new building and
the discarding of a lot of books with the claim that this library was
moving into the digital era.  I co-wrote an article about an aspect of
this debate With Jane Greenberg and Cynthia Porter, "Access Denied: The
Discarding of Library History." AMERICAN LIBRARIES 29 (April 1998): 57-61.

I look forward to reading the article, not because he makes good points
but because he makes very bad points very effectively.  Saving all old
newspapers, or believing that everything should be saved, as has already
been stated in this thread, are not defensible ideas at all.  But just as
I used Baker and his discard of library catalogs for stimulating
interesting questions in the classroom, I am sure his newspaper article
will be equally useful.  They generate good discussion about the need for
systematic archival appraisal based on sound strategic, theoretical,
professional knowledge, and commonsense.


Richard J. Cox
Professor
Department of Library and Information Sciences
School of Information Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Voice:  412-624-3245
FAX:    412-648-7001
e-mail: rcox@mail.sis.pitt.edu
homepage: http://www.lis.pitt.edu/~rjc

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