Thank you, Ed Southern, for actually reading Baker's work
before commenting on it. I'll admit I knew nothing of the history of
the microfilm industry or our government's relationship with this industry
before I read Baker's articles. I bet most archivists know nothing of this
either. Frankly, it was eye-opener, and has prompted me to question a
number of archival "truths".
I didn't need to be cognizant of this history,
however, to know that microfilm is an awful medium to use and that we
should avoid knee-jerk decisions to
microfilm.
Heather Willever-Farr
Electronic Records Archivist American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine 190 N. Independence Mall West Philadelphia, PA 19106-1572 hwillever-farr@mail.acponline.org (w) 215-351-2470 (h) 215-481-0962 >>> Ed Southern <esouthern@NCSL.DCR.STATE.NC.US> 04/19/01 12:31PM >>> While I hesitate to jump in after reading only half of Baker's *Double Fold*, it might be appropriate to note that part of his argument goes to the origins of microfilming and the role of certain individuals in and with the Library of Congress and the then Council on Library Resources in setting up initial assumptions and then having the rest of the library and archives professions, in most cases unthinkingly, accept these assumptions and just jump on the bandwagon. Baker does appear to be oblivious to the pressures of economics and finance and to the difficulty in making public or at least widespread policies do a 180-degree about-face (to begin saving all or massive numbers of originals) after thirty to sixty years. That would be extraordinarily difficult, including for him and his repository. But in the "what if" category, there might have been some measures available thirty years ago which the professions jointly could have undertaken. I would just make or reiterate the following points: 1) Baker should make all archivists and librarians rethink their assumptions, at the least. 2) Baker has done a lot of research, enough to make his book something besides a rant (though it may have some of those qualities) or an obsession or "nostalgia". 3) He makes us (or at least he has made me) newly aware of the limitations of the film medium. We should always be glad when someone makes us aware of the limitations of media, since they all have them. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Edwin Southern, Ph.D ( esouthern@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us ) Head, State and University Records Unit Department of Cultural Resources Division of Archives and History Archives and Records Section Government Records 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: Archives & Archivists [ mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On Behalf Of Daniel Sokolow Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 9:28 AM To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU Subject: Re: Baker Daniel, While I agree with your concern about ad hominem attacks, I have to respond to your third point about him being an archivist. Bless him for his efforts, he is still holding archivists up to a standard that is, frankly, impossible to reach. What I think most of us would like is for him to admit that it's not as simple as all that. Several of us have brought up the issue of staffing for his grand newspaper repository. If he wants us archivists to preserve it all, he's going to have to start thinking like us. That includes providing access to his collection, cataloging the collection (on card files, if it makes him happy :) ) Our concerns as a profession are not that he's not an archivist - I applaud him for taking on the role without the training. The problems are 1) his attacks on our profession do not take into account what we're really facing (see my earlier emails on this subject); 2) his focus on the preservation aspect to the exclusion of the other issues affecting archivists; 3) his refusal to admit that current funding levels are not sufficient for what he wants us to do. [snip] A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List! To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt < rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu > |