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Re: New Yorker Article



Mr. Cox writes:

>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. 

Like Mr. Cox, I have not had the opportunity to read the New Yorker article yet, but will do so at the earliest opportunity.

While I agree with Mr. Cox that not  ** all ** old newspapers can be saved, I seem to disagree with him, very strongly, about the value of saving ** original **  items.  

Put succinctly:  digitizing, or microfilming, newspapers (or any other print object) preserves ** part ** of the original information (i.e., the actual words and an indication of original typography and lay-out), but not ** all (or even most) ** of the original "information".

Bibliographers, print historians, and many others would argue that preserving the original format and material is absolutely essential to understanding many aspects of the history of printing, reading, and so on.  The type of paper, quality of printing, subtle (or, in the case of monochromatic microfilming, any) colour differences, actual size are some of the aspects of the printed object that cannot be adequately captured by digitization and/or microfilming.  

The medium, as another Canadian once observed, is part of the message, a very vital part of the message.  While every library and archive cannot save every newspaper or other fragile item, surely the world's great libraries (like the Library of Congress) have a social and historical obligation to do as much as possible.

Sally Gibson
Toronto




>>> Richard Cox <rcox@MAIL.SIS.PITT.EDU> 07/20/00 08:16am >>>
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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