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Accession information on the Web (and elsewhere)



  Our University Libraries are uploading the Archives' collection
information to OCLC, local databases, and the Web.  This brings up some
questions I was hoping you all might have some ideas about or some
experience with.

  Specifically, I'm wondering about the wisdom of making certain
information easily available.  For example, the inclusion of donor
information on a universally-accessible website.  While this information is
limited to names (and via added entries, perhaps, the relationship to the
originator of the collection), it still seems potentially unwise, in my
view, to necessarily highlight the donor.  My fear is that patrons will
then contact the donor directly, leading to a sort of backlash against the
Archives and its practices(??).  In any case, this information is generally
included in OCLC-housed MARC records; but there seems a substantive
difference between including information in a primarily research-based
database and one on the World Wide Web.  I might just be "crazy with the
heat" with worry on this, but it seems like a potential problem.  After
all, we have not historically had much of a contract overtly stating that
information of this type might be disseminated.  Any thoughts?

  Too, what is the similar (un-? dis-?)wisdom with including call or
location numbers in Web-accessible (or even local) databases?  I know that
some institutions refuse the inclusion of call numbers for security
reasons.  Is this a very real problem?  I'm not sure that I have "good"
perspective on this.

  (Of course, the second query makes me consider that yet another benefit
of having no space is that boxes sometimes need to be housed so, umm,
"counter-intuitively" that a thief would have to have a very, very unique
sense of how numbers work to find much... so, well, there's a silver lining
for a Thursday.)

  Thanks for your thoughts on this matter.  Please respond to me privately,
and I can post to the list if interest warrants it.


        Dan

   Dan Di Landro
   Visiting Assistant Librarian
   State University of New York at Buffalo
   University Archives
   420 Capen Hall
   Buffalo, NY  14260
   716/645-2916

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