--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:30:26 -0500
From: minton <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: M & M Dept.
Sender: minton <[log in to unmask]>


MAPS-L:

Johnnie.  WOW!      No, you didn't say enough.  You have hit upon the REAL
problem(s).  And Thiry, read my follow-up message - it says the same thing
you do.

Jaime (Mexican name for Jim Minton) to distinguish from other Jims

Johnnie Sutherland wrote:

>      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
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