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Baker's book and what he really said



I remember the many threads on this list about Nicholson Baker's book _Double
Fold_. I thought it best if I go and read the book, and I think other archivists
would benefit from doing the same.

What Baker argues is NOT that we shouldn't microfilm things and NOT that
we should not de-acidify things.

What Baker DOES argue is to promote conservation (making documents stand
the test of time better) over preservation (put into a new format and destroy
the old format). Baker would be FOR de-acidifying a brittle book because
it would extend its life. He would be FOR microfilming a book, as long
as the book can be rebound and kept in its original form.

Many points Baker makes make a lot of sense--some newspapers that printed
color illustrations are not extant in this century because they were microfilmed
and the originals all thrown away, but microfilm is black and white and
the color illustrations are gone; Sometimes it is the format of the document
that is important (Declaration of Independence is big, not the same size
as everything else microfilmed) not just the content on the format; Microfilming
only one edition of a newspaper is wrong because different editions come
out at different times of the day and sometimes one edition includes articles
the other editions do not.

I think that Baker makes a lot of sense. One thing he never says outright
but I think he is arguing is that we aren't sure that de-acidification is
the right thing to do with every document, as some acid-containing newspapers
that are bound in some libraries (e.g., cold weather locales) are in better
condition than the de-acidified copies in other libraries.

Baker isn't arguing that de-acidification is wrong as long it is used for
conservation and not preservation (see definitions above). Baker isn't
arguing against microfilming, just arguing against microfilming in order
to save space and destroy the original format.

Any takers?



Russell D. James
History grad student and archivist-in-training
University of West Florida
Pensacola, Florida USA

5406 Persimmon Hollow Rd.
Milton, FL 32583-6700
850-983-0048
neri@iwon.com








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