--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:05:06 -0500
From: Marcel Fortin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: #38 again <fwd>
Sender: Marcel Fortin <[log in to unmask]>



Patrick et. al.

I have to admit to being encouraged by Professor Keller's article
but I did find myself disagreeing with alot of points made.  It
is indeed encouraging, as you say in your message Patrick, that a
user has taken the time to write about the map library. At the
same time, map librarians should make it clear that we do have
the vision and that we already know what needs to change. We just
need the support to do it.

Our struggle is not in creating or having a vision. I believe our
vision is in place, our intentions are also there. We just need
the right people in our corner to help us. This is exactly where
faculty members can come in and help. We need their support to
convince others of the vision we already have. But we need them
to understand us at the same time. We have the expertise and
desire, and we know our role as educators just as we know what
needs to be done. We need money and helping hands along the way.
But to be able to find these things, administrators and faculty
members must understand what goes on in thes libraries.

I think this is part of the problem I had with the article. There
are some assumptions that are made about map librarians and what
we do.  This is in part an indication of the age-old problem of
image and lack of understanding of what librarians do and where
we stand in the big picture. Professor Keller mentions that map
librarians should be encouraged to :

"- conduct locational searches;
- consult in business geographics and other geographic
information analysis;
- assisst with navigation and vacation planning;
- assist in housing searches;
- teach classes in geographic information related subjects;
- consult in cartographic communication
- and offer map design and production services;
- or offer assistance with the interpretation and understanding
of space and place?"

I don't know about all map librarians, but this describes my job
quite closely and i'm sure it describes my predecessor's job when
she started in this position in the 1960's.

On the same note, Professor Keller also describes on a few
occasions the main role of the traditional map library as being a
place to store paper maps. If this were so, there would never
have been a need for map librarians. You would have just needed
someone to shelve them. As a professional librarian I see myself
as an educator and the maps in my drawers or the gis datasets in
my computer simply as tools and resources for me to do my job
with. When someone comes in to use one of my tools, they can use
it alone or with my help, but never is the item in isolation as a
preserved artifact. That is the museum's role, not my library's
role. In other words, I know what tools I need to do my job and I
always try and get whatever that tool's format is in, paper or
digital. There is no vision requirement there. And for the
record, there are still many many users who wish to use the paper
maps. Sometimes, the ones with true vision want to use both paper
and digital copies!

The final point I'd like to make is that there is an assumption
in Professor Keller's article that map librarians can decide the
outcome of the map library and its future and can create the
modern version of it if we really put our minds to it. I don't
know very many map librarians who wouldn't love to get the latest
technological tools and data to help their patrons.
Unfortunately, rare is it that the map librarian is the
decision-maker in the grand scheme of the overall library
institution.  We struggle today for the power to purchase more
datasets and more powerful computers just as I'm sure we used to
struggle for money to buy more maps and finish off a map series.
We do not decide overnight that we will now transform our
libraries into GIS centres. Budgets have to be justified and
administrators have to be convinced. And that is where our
struggle lies and here is where faculty members and librarians
must form a bond together. As the good-old French-Canadian saying
goes "Pass me the puck, I'll score some goals".

Marcel Fortin
GIS/Map Librarian
University of Toronto
[log in to unmask]

Johnnie Sutherland wrote:
>
> --- Begin Forwarded Message ---
> Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:17:38 -0500
> From: Patrick McGlamery <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: RE: #38 again <fwd>
> Sender: Patrick McGlamery <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Dear Alice;
>
> Bless you for going back and being thoughtful.
>
> I have admit to some of the same feelings after reading the article.  But
> let's look at it another way.  Mr. Keller has taken the time to write a
> thoughtful, articulate commentary on the state of the map library FROM THE
> USER'S POINT OF VIEW.  Let us remember that NACIS is a multi-whatever bunch
> who all care passionately about maps.  And Mr. Keller, as a map library
> user, has given this a lot of thought, and cares enough to put it down on
> paper and share.  I daresay he has stated, though not as a librarian, some
> of our deepest fears.  It deserves a careful reading.
>
> Can we parse his article into a number of themes and comment, collectively,
> on them?
>
> Patrick
>
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