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Re: Electronic Archive



To answer Daniel's note, yes, the software does present
the document in the original formatting, etc.   And I agree
with Daniel, that it seems the important thing to preserve
is the information.   For example, just within our library, the
administrative office mails out an agenda on e-mail for
a monthly meeting.   Every member of the committee prints
out their own copy, and depending on what font they are
using and document characteristics, I've seen as many as
four different "agendas" at a meeting.   So it becomes the
information that is important, not the "look" of the item.

On the other hand, the University President's Office sent
out an "invitation" to an on-campus Christmas reception,
and sent a very nice colorful little e-mail.  Guess what?  I
couldn't get it to print because I did not have the right fonts.
Also I had to send it to a printer on a different floor of the
library so I could capture the COLOR nuances.    Also I've
begun receiving committee drafts on e-mail that encode
textual changes and amendments in a variet of colors--I have
to print these out to make sense of the documents, but in B/W
I cannot see the changes, so have to send them to a color
printer on a different floor and go and get them.

Now all of this does not begin to make sense to me.   Before
computers and printers in every office, the library administrative
secretary would type the agenda, photocopy 15 copies, and
drop them in our mail slots.   Today, I still have to make trips
to the mail slots, but then every librarian must stop and read
the agenda e-mail, send it to a printer (sometimes next to their
computer, sometimes the department computer which can be
some distance away), and retrieve it.    One of our departments
announced they would be saving money by no longer printing
address labels with the university name.  Now, instead, each
department has to order laser labels, design a label, and print
them on their own office computer.  I'm convince we spend
several dollars of staff time on a sheet of mailing labels that
used to cost us pennies each in bulk.

Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Dean

Dean DeBolt
University Librarian
Special Collections and West Florida Archives
John C. Pace Library
University of West Florida
11000 University Parkway
Pensacola, FL  32514-5750
Tele:  850-474-2213;   Fax:  850-474-3338

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