Peter :-) (et al, respondants)
Thanks for the note; I admit to some puzzlement from your CP
article, but (thankfully) my hope that there was a method
and/or rationale in there was confirmed by your posting. I knew
from previous chats we have had (in formal sessions at
conferences, as well as the "better talks" over dinner) that
you had concerns which were based upon the most sincere wishes
for improving the status and function of "map libraries"
...yup...you did provocate! :-)...but enough said on that young man :-)
I am forwarding the DigLibs-list posting below which may be of interest to
frame *part* of an ongoing discussion about "map libraries". ALSO i'd
suggest, following from Alice's idea as well as from what Pat McGlamery
said, the cited study below provides a very broad grid/matrix to look at
the issues "we" face....(see the section on key issues)
I hope you saw some of the references I sent out recently, as I think
there are some things in there that may help support some of the ideas you
already presented, as well as providing some updates. In particular, the
Adler-Larsgaard citation (for the chapter in the 1999 edition of the
"Goodchild et al 'Big Book') is useful. I have *somewhat* updated the
ideas I gave to Prue and Mary (which they quoted :-) and those are coming
out in an upcoming special issue of the Canadian Geographer (guest editor
is Nadine Schuurman, issue on GIS). You probably recall the CCA-ACMLA
presentation I made in Montreal; a similar talk was presented in Boston
later that year. The ideas *may* help us (and I mean both as individuals
and as associations) talk about the practical issues within a common
context or framework. (To borrow somewhat from Mike G., we need to find
those common metaphors that brings us together - hence the study cited
below :-)..........then again, i may have it all wrong (a more likely
scenario)
<sidebar>
btw the way....you mentioned leadership.....i hope everyone on these lists
are not thinking that my mentioning these various references and ideas
means that i am stepping up to the plate (at least in any greater or
lesser capacity than i have over the last few years)......i am not a
leader in this or any other context :-) (hmm? LBJ said it so well when he
dropped out of US politics)....i think my ideas and suggestions are known
to all, or at least "out there" in the public domain....i'll follow; i'll
help; i'll cheerlead......:-) (hmmm? did that disclaimer work? am i safe
from being put on a committee :-) :-) :-).......please note the emoticons!
</sidebar>
the study mentioned below is rather typical (ie: have i read one too many
of these ? yes!)...but i think it gets at some ideas about what you called
the "post-technology world"....and it gives a "bigger picture" view of
what may be "our place" in the scheme of things....perhaps too we can use
the ideas of Digital Earth and Geolibraries as ways to see if - together -
we have the makings of a "moonshot" (Mike G., 1999 ICA keynote)
but that "place" is and has always been rather problematic for map
libraries......are we libraries (like UVIC) or labs (UCSB?) or mixtures
(Dal?).....or are we spatial information centres/clearinghouses? are we
allied with "librarians" and "libraries" and "library associations" or are
we more related to "geography" "GIScience" "cartography" ....
and....what role(s) if any do we play in GSDI, Digital Earth,
national/regional geospatial infrastructures projects, digital libraries,
research, teaching, "production", "analysis"...etc etc...remember some of
the chats at Digital Earth meetings in Fredericton?.... (did you know that
*some* of us end up on thesis committees because of the work we do in GIS
and geostats with student researchers? or that *some* of us are working on
research project and/or via grants and project funds? and *some* of us
even get asked to provide appraisals for maps or deed of gifts for
donations to collections :-)) and *some* of us just answered a dozen ref
questions ranging from "i need a map of xyz for my paper" to "why isn't my
overlay working? what does it mean it can't project the map? what's this
datum stuff, and why do i have to change the false easting?" :-)....
so our role(s) will also have to be framed by the realities of our use and
our users...not to mention our schedules as public service areas!
a question i have, which i struggle with from a practical.functional
standpoint here at Dal on a daily basis is.....how will we provide the
level of services which the user community here requires (and we have a
boom in GIS and map use!) to a level that is adequate.....and then, after
that, how will we become "active" in some of the bigger
issues/projects...when funding and staffing are...either shrinking or
stable.....
That issue/question differs greatly from providing online access to
certain resources.....or the sort of digital-only view of the future of
map libraries... It's like providing access to online bibliographic
tools - we can "buy-in" to the access and get the info....but we still
find people need and want! our help in using the information they find
(not to mention figuring out (a) how to use the systems, which seem to
change daily and (b) how to properly/effectively search for and filter
through the way-too-many results :-)
part of our future discussions about how to sustain map
libraries (or enhance them and find innovative ways to further integrate
the 'spatial' into the other forms of information use)...will have to deal
with coming to grips with the digital transition...I'M NOT saying the
transition is one from print to 'digital-only'....the transition is really
more of a period of time when we have to get used to the value of both...
((imho...my 'post-tech' world is not digital only...see/read E.M.
Forester's short story "the machine stops" (1909); or read "the tyranny of
the moment" by Thomas Eriksen......i think everyone knows i'm not a
neo-luddite...but i also think that if we are going to base our concerns
on what is happening as result of a digital transition, then we had
best understand more about the digital....as the non-digital....to make
sure we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater))
(and see: The map library in the new millennium" Parry and Perkins,
2001).... i'm reviewing it now for Cartographica :-)...and there are more
items out there from sources we may not readily see as being "map" or
"library" or even "GIS" related....but they may provide something to frame
our efforts...)
sorry this note was so long and seemingly disjointed....
we do have a future(s), we need to talk more about it....and thanks for
sparking a great discussion! ......now, more input please :-) from all
you silent folks out there in map library land :-) :-)
Peter, as always fun :-) see you soon.....best to UVIC and everyone there
cheers
james
James Boxall
Curator/Head
Map and Geospatial Information Collection
Killam Library
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada B3H 4H8
902-494-3757 (tel)
902-494-2062 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
magic.library.dal.ca
Immediate Past-President, Association of Canadian
Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) www.acmla.org
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 07:07:12 -0500
From: Terry Kuny <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: DIGLIB <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: DigiCULT Study: "Technological Landscapes for Tomorrow's Cultural Economy"
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 12:35:22 +0100
From: Sigrid Tollefsen <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: The DigiCULT Study
The European Commission, DG Information Society, Cultural Heritage
Applications D2, in July 2000 issued a Call for Tender for a Study on
"Technological Landscapes for Tomorrow's Cultural Economy", short Digicult,
to provide memory institutions with better information on how to face this
challenge.
The work has now finished. The DigiCULT Study gives recommendations for
desicion makers of European archives, libraries, museums and policy makers
at European, national and regional level.
An executive summary is available on
http://www.salzburgresearch.at/fbi/digicult/
Senior adviser Sigrid Tollefsen
RBT-Riksbibliotektjenesten
National Office for Research
Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries
P.O.BOX 8046 Dep
N-0030 OSLO
Tel. nr. :+47 23 11 89 00/11
Fax.: +47 23 11 89 01
E-mail:[log in to unmask]
|
