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Re: New Yorker



I found Sally Gibson's posting more than a little condscending.  I hardly think archivists are, generally speaking, "hopelessly defensive," although you could understand a measure of defensiveness, given how often both our commitment and professional expertise are easily dismissed.  Further, I've never met an archivist yet who has "cavalierly" thrown anything out.
 
My institution holds 143 years of community newspapers from Ontario's largest county.  I needn't reiterate here what is commonly accepted about the longevity of newsprint.  As a rule, we will preserve original newspapers as long as possible.  When they deteriorate beyond handling or salvation, I'll get rid of them.  When my facility is full, I will make decisions about what needs to be de-accessioned, and if newspapers must go, I'll get rid of them, after first offering them to another interested party.  I have every confidence in our in-house microfilming program.  That's the real world.
 
I share all of the comments about the importance of preserving original documents wherever possible, as I think most archivists do.  But the general feeling that Mr. Baker is both unjustly dismissive of archivists' motives, and largely ignorant of important issues they have to deal with in a real world, seems wholly valid.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bruce Beacock
County Archivist
The Corporation of the County of Simcoe Archives
RR2
MINESING ON   L0L 1Y0
CANADA
Tel: (705) 726-9331
Fax: (705) 725-5341
archives@bar.imag.net
or archives@county.simcoe.on.ca
http://www.county.simcoe.on.ca/archives/archives.html