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Re: New Yorker



I am torn between some of Mr. Baker's tenets and those that
we use in practice.   I get frequent demand for the original bound
newspapers because (1) reproduction of photographs is especially
poor from microfilm; (2) it is far easier to scan a page looking for
something than a similar eye scan on the microfilm reader;
(3) serendipity laws seem to help you find something easier and
faster in hard copy than on microfilm.    On the other hand, the
volumes are deteriorating, the storage space is shrinking, and
the resource allocators--agog with electronic databases--are
less and less reluctant to put dollars into preservation, shelving,
and space.

We are being urged to abandon our card catalog for an
"electronic" index, and our first problem is that there's an awful
lot of information on the catalog card that lets the user differentiate
between what they want.   Our old library catalog cards also
carried information like the name of the donor, purchase informa-
tion (such as auction, bookseller), cost, date...sometimes the
historical date when something was acquired helped us identify
to different copies....

I'm not totally supporting Mr. Baker's positions but I understand
his frustrations.

Dean

Dean DeBolt
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
John C. Pace Library
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338

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