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Re: Nicholson Baker



You're missing the point of Baker's articles, imho
He's criticizing libraries/archives who copy originals and then toss those
originals - for what purpose?  To save shelf space? Would you microfilm a
Guttenberg Bible and then toss the original because you now have a copy on
(11 grades of gray) microfilm?
It's one thing to make copies for ready access, to relieve the pressure on
the original items in your collection; but it's incumbent on librarians and
archivists to preserve the original material entrusted to them.
I'm reading right now an original editionof US Grant's memoirs that someone
in family had.  Alum/rosin sized paper. somewhat fragile; but stillreadable
and the pages turn w/o fallng into dust; & the experience of reading the
original is far, far greater than reading a microfilm (CD - you name it)
copy that can't give you the feel or appreciate  the experience of the real
thing.  That's why there are collectors who will pay a huge amount for the
stuff that libraries toss out too routinely.
Allan Goodrich
-----Original Message-----
From: Judith Turner <judy53211@YAHOO.COM>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: Nicholson Baker


>Nicholson Baker has found a franchise -- bashing
>libraries, supposedly for their own good.  One only
>need look at UCITA, the latest copyright law
>revisions,
>the rapidly shifting information landscape with the
>tremendous possibilities and profits and pitfalls
>available, and realize libraries are going to have to
>change if they are to stay viable.
>
>As a person who believes in free and/or low cost
>library services wherever possible, the last thing
>libraries need is a Nicholson Baker trying to drag
>them back into the 19th century right now.  Libraries
>are in the process of reinventing themselves (I hate
>the word but it's shorthand for a concept we all know
>about.)
>
>Mr. Baker might be a "fine novelist" who considers
>himself a friend of libraries but it is some mythical
>library he imagines he remembers from his youth.
>
>Judy Turner
>Director, Library and Archives
>Milwaukee Public Museum
>
>--- Jennifer Hecker <geekarchivist@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> Howdy everyone-
>>   Just got around to reading the last few days of
>> the list and noticed that
>> nobody mentioned that Nicholson Baker is also a very
>> fine novelist.
>
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>