This message is from Jan Smits.----------Johnnie
 
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      Fri, 7 Jan 1994 21:25:42 +0100
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         Documents/Maps Department Names (A)
 
In the past my department was called "Office for Maps". It seemed
to cover fairly well the contents of our work. Since the Royal
Library has been reorganized since 1991 my department is called
"Section for Cartographical Documentation" and comprises the
former Office for Maps, the Dutch Union Map Catalogue and the
nascent Cartographic Information Centre.
However I have the feeling that "map" or "cartography" occurring
in the name of a department like ours is not adequate anymore. In
relating to our materials we didn't call them "maps", but
"cartographic materials" like in the ISBD and AACR2. But is the
science we serve the public with not so much evolving that it
overreaches its former goals. Did we see in the 60s a maturing of
cartography which resulted in IGU and ICA and its national
societies, now we see the opposite movement, because the
information we want to supply cannot always be called
cartographic. Our main goal probably will be to supply "spatial
information" in visual form, but with the rise of
GIS-applications and multi-media we probably also will start to
supply non-visual spatial information. [In Dutch the word
"spatial" doesn't have so much a NASA-connotation. Thus in
Holland we have a University Faculty called "Faculty of Spatial
Sciences", but it is translated into English as "Faculty of
Geographical Sciences"]. At large we could say we handle
geo-referenced materials, but these automatically include
non-visual materials.
Though the IFLA has a "Geography & Map Library Section" and the
Americans have a "Map and Geography Round Table" (MAGERT) I
wonder in how far the brethen sciences of geography and
cartography are participating in these organisations. For one I
know that within IFLA the Map Libraries are predominant and the
problems they take care of are mainly cartographical! Maybe we
should redefine our working-field in the present GIS-age and
incorporate more geography or seek more co-operation with
geography to serve our clients better. Then we may become truely
"Geography and Map Libraries (or Information Centres)". This
could also have the advantage that we not only access
predominantly pure cartographic materials (i.e. single or
independent maps or map-series, charts, globes, relief-models,
digital equivalents etc.) but also those cartographic materials
which are part of other media (i.e. books, periodicals, GIS,
multi-media etc.).
I hope I haven't confused the matter more than necessary!
 
Jan Smits
Mapcurator Royal Library, the National Library of The Netherlands
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