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Re: Baker's book and what he really said



I haven't read the book yet, but it has been ordered by my library.  I heard him
talk at Siimons College Alumni day.  I was impressed with his slides of some early
newpapers with really beautiful graphics.  I would certainly want to save such
things.  I have reserved judgement and personally try to save many things that
others would throw away.  What I cannot do is commit to saving hard copies of our
local daily.  The newspaper is microfilmed  and as copy is sent to us . Then the
hard copies are discarded  after a time.  We do all research for the newspapaer
itself.  The idea of perserving this huge amount of papers is scary.
Louise Sandberg, Special Collections
Lawrence Public Library
Lawrence, MA

"Russell D. James" wrote:

> 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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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>