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Nicholson Baker Revisited - A Survey



Hello Everyone ?
I am a student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at
Simmons College.  Currently, I?m enrolled in a preservation management class
and working on a project looking at how preservation management decisions have
or have not been effected by the publication last year of Nicholson Baker?s
book Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper.  As many of you will
recall, quite a debate was sparked on this listserv and an actual debate took
place at Simmons between Baker and Richard Cox.  In both forums, librarians
and archivists talked about how the general public would react to the
assertions in Double Fold and how we needed to respond to the general public.
The purpose of this survey is to begin to determine to what extent the
operation of preservation programs and preservation decisions have been
affected.

I would greatly appreciate any responses to the survey, whether or not you
feel that your institution has been affected by Baker?s book.  Please respond
to me off the listserv and I will be happy to provide a compilation of the
results to everyone on the list as soon as I have received and analyzed them.
The results will also be included in my final paper for class.  I will not use
either your name or the name of your institution without first receiving
permission.

Thank you in advance for your help ? Dawn Marsh

Nicholson Baker Revisited ? A Survey

1. Have you had to respond to reactions to Baker?s book by researchers and/or
the general public, especially considering the use of microfilmed newspapers?
If yes, how?
2. Have you had to defend your preservation decisions, especially decisions to
reformat materials, to library administration?  If yes, how?
3. Have you or your institution reexamined the selection criteria for
preserving original materials?  If yes, how?
4. Has Nicholson Baker?s book affected any digitization projects at your
institution?  If yes, how?
5. Has your institution halted microfilming projects as a result of the
publication of Double Fold?
6. Have you or your institution been involved in a critical look at the
history of microfilming and the Brittle Books Program?
7. Have more or less funds been made available to your institution for
preservation since the publication of Double Fold?
8. Do you feel the publication of Double Fold has brought attention to the
library and archival professions and the preservation of the materials they
house from those outside the profession?
9. Additional comments:

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