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Re: New Yorker



7/20/00

        No argument that we need to be working on effective appraisal strategies,
but in many cases, thousands, sometime millions, of books are printed as well.
Tanselle doesn't seem to make any exceptions to his statements, whether
wisely or not, I am not qualified to judge. I do know his book was eye-opening
for me in considering documents, digitization, microfilming, even as I
realized that no working records manager or archivist could possibly
attempt literally to implement a program based on Tanselle's statements.
That "some researcher some day might want to look at some original copy
of a newspaper" would not perhaps be Tanselle's main point---if he were on this
listserv---but rather the need for awareness of certain dimensions lost when
microfilming, photocopying, and digitization occur. Perhaps we could call
it consciousness-raising about a dimension it is easy to lose sight of
when we accept strictly conventional lines of thinking.

        I also recommend Brown and Duguid's *Social Life of Information*
and particularly a story beginning a chapter which touches on many of these
issues. In this case, a medical historian was able to plot the course of a
cholera outbreak by literally smelling 18. c. letters for evidence of
vinegar, used then as a disinfectant. Perhaps there is an appraisal
criterion for this.... ; )

Ed Southern

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Edwin Southern, Ph.D  (esouthern@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us)
Head, State Records Unit
Department of Cultural Resources
Division of Archives and History
Archives and Records Section
Records Services Branch
4615 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4615

Phone 919/733-3540
Fax 919/715-3627

Opinions expressed in this message may
not represent the policy of my agency.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----Original Message-----
From:   Richard Cox [SMTP:rcox@MAIL.SIS.PITT.EDU]
Sent:   Thursday, July 20, 2000 1:31 PM
To:     ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject:        New Yorker

[snip]
Well, sure.  I agree that every time we
reformat we lose something, but I also understand that not all originals
can be saved.  BUT, then, this discussion is about NEWSPAPERS.  Thousands
of copies of my local paper are printed - how many originals should be
saved, should ANY originals be saved, should SOME originals be saved?
Certainly, I think we need to save some selective originals because of
what Tanselle is getting at, recognizing that to think of millions of
issues of newspapers as separate witnesses each needing to be saved does
not get us anywhere except painted into the proverbial corner.  Again,
this is why archivists need to devote much more energy into working on
effective appraisal strategies - and the fact that some researcher some
day might want to look at some original copy of a newspaper is hardly THE
primary rationale for what we should be doing.

[snip]

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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