-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Are Paper Map Relevant?-reply
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 12:01:54 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]


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Paper maps are relevant and will continue to be relevant for the next
decade or so.  At this time, there is not a format that duplicates a good
paper map's density of information, ease of use, legibility,
interpretability, etc.  There are a number of factors that will have to
play out before the flexibility of paper maps is eclipsed: technological
(storage and display technologies); economic (profitable publishing models
are not in place, cost of support of electronic resources is still high);
intellectual (cataloging, discovery tools).  This is an incomplete list.

In the meantime, paper maps will be less relevant for some communities than
others, and we will see that some communities will continue to need paper
products long after most research no longer requires them.  As a result,
some collections of maps will be less used, just as some collections of
microfilm, or print journals, are becoming less used.  Some collections
will always be relevant for their historical importance.

It takes as much intellectual effort to identify, select, acquire, catalog,
preserve and provide services for digital cartographic information as it
does to do the same for paper maps. Collections must be developed and
services must be elaborated around these formats and technologies.  My
experience has been that building such services increases the visibility,
use of, and yes, relevance of the paper maps.

We are living through a shift, there is no doubt about it.  But it is not
simply a shift from paper to digital, traditional to new.  It is a shift in
the way that geographic information is used, interpreted, relied upon, and
it is has many parallels in other fields.  Similar changes are occurring in
other areas of librarianship and information management.  This context of
the shift needs to be understood if we are to be stewards of geographic
information in any format, whether this means GIS data, scans of paper
maps, or locational database services.

We have before us a seriously important challenge and an opportunity.  For
me, the important question isn't "are paper maps relevant?"  The important
question is: how is the management and use of geographic information
transforming, and how can we, as a profession, tranform proactively?

mike

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Mike  Furlough
University of Virginia Library
434-924-3169