The problems I have seen with destroying map collections are many
and very current.  There is a trend in the U.S. academic libraries to
take their map collection departments and move them into other
departments.  The reason given varies from institution, but really
the move is used to shift personnel from a format with little support
to what ever is the latest fad among the library's administrators.
     In many places the move is to consolidate a Government Documents
and a Map Department. This is a way to reduce two, currently 'dead'
departments, and shift the staff resources.  It does make sense on the
surface because most of the academic Map Collections have received the
bulk of their holdings from the GPO Depository program.  In many
of those libraries that have removed their Government Document
departments the Map Collection has gone to Reference.
    When the Map Collection is reduced the lack of support and
supervision produces the following problems.
1.  Unless the Map Collection is its own entity with full-time
professionals in charge, it will not receive the Library support needed
to maintain the collection and direct its growth.  The Map Collection
will become a dead collection, that slowly is pushed into a corner to
rot.  Holes will not be filled, opportunities to build the holdings
will be missed, and it will become less and less useful to the
researcher.  Then one day it will be used as horse fodder in the
University stables.
2.  Maintance of the collection can suffer greatly.  I have seen map
collections, two in major University Libraries where the holdings were
supervised by another department, in terrible shape, maps on the floor,
maps stuffed in drawers any which way, in utter chaos.  In two other,
similar situations, I have seen the picture of neatness.  Everything
is in cases, and the cases shining.  When you look closer at the
collections in all four of these places you find similar problems.
Maps are not maintained in correct order in the drawers, either through
neglect, or the support staff's lack of understanding of maps and map
librarianship. The maps are being beat to death.
3.  Theft.  Theft.  Theft.  I have not seen any of these unsupported
and unsupervised collections that did not have major theft and damage
problems.  In most cases the staff and library did not know they had
the problem, mainly because they had no one who knew the collection.
Why check out the map or air photo, if that is possible, when a few
quick folds and you have the thing.  Wouldn't mom and pop love to have
an air photo of the home place.  They will never miss one photo out of
100,000, and beside it is not marked.
4.  Reference.  I have not met a reference librarian who did not think
they could provide better reference service through their general
reference desk, than could any small specialized department.  In this
era of computer, internet reference service, the specialized reference
service is in a bad position in most academic libraries.  As the
reference departments have thrown out their own in-depth reference
services, and replaced them with broad but shallow connection and
instructional services to the undergraduate and for the graduate
students and professors a deeper but limited connection services plus
an BI attempt to instruct the professorate on how they can teach
research, they see little reason why users of a map collection should
have in-depth reference service.  The result of the removal of the
full-time map collection staff is a major decline in service, which the
new department will not recognize because they are not on site to see
the problems.  Once the Map Collection becomes the map area, even if it
is for part of the day, service declines greatly.  The service needed
by map formats users requires specialized service by staff trained in
that service. A majority of people using a map collection have to have
trained staff to assist them if they are to get the material they need.
A general reference staff can not, in most cases, properly interpret
the question, let along know the holdings well enough to provide the
best answer.

    There are other problems then the four above that others may want
to discuss.  Yes, I am being very strong on this subject. Some of the
above problems may not occur everywhere over the short term, but
they will occur.  With the decline of the GPO Depository program, the
decline in the number of printed maps, and the major changes in library
services, map collections are in big trouble.  We use up staff and
space and serve too few patrons.

John Sutherland
Map Collection
University of Georgia