Potentially very bad news.
Louise
Sent from Louise's iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Greg Armento <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: March 10, 2017 at 8:57:45 PM PST
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: [Waml] surprising news re:csun map collection
Making the List-Serve Rounds
Greg
From: Dolly Freidel <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: March 10, 2017 at 6:24:01 PM PST
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: [Apcg-l] Fwd: Map Library decimation
Dear APCG members,
Here below are details regarding the potential loss of the Map Library at CSU Northridge.
Thanks, Bill Bowen, for sending this along.
Dolly
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: WILLIAM BOWEN <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: March 10, 2017 at 4:36:58 PM PST
To: Daniel Arreola <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, "Dr. Robert Richardson" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, Stephen Cunha <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, Dolly Freidel <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, Glen MacDonald <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, Nancy Lee Wilkinson <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Cc: Douglas Richardson <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>, Alexander Murphy <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Map Library decimation
I am passing along a missive sent to me by two former colleagues. It will inform you as to what is happening at CSU Northridge. - Bill
February 17, 2017
To: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Yi Li
From: Warren R. Bland, Ph.D. and Robert Gohstand Ph.D., Professors Emeritus of the Department of Geography
Subject: The potential destruction of the Geography Map Library
Dear Provost Yi Li:
We are writing to make you aware of, and entreat you to prevent, the further ruination of a facility which contributes markedly to the reputation of the University and is essential to the functioning and purpose of the Geography Department. The proposed, and recent, changes in the facility bring enormous harm to the education and research of students, faculty, and the public.
The Geography Department Map Library has existed since the founding of the Department and has become one of the largest facilities of its kind west of the Mississippi River. Geography and maps have an obvious and symbiotic relationship and it is almost impossible to conceive of scholarship in Geography without the use of maps. Therefore the Department, and the University, are fortunate to have such an outstanding facility.
The Map Library presently contains approximately 400,000 maps, of which about one half are government document maps acquired under the Federal Depository Library Program and the rest a very wide-ranging collection of historical and thematic maps, with particular emphasis on the western U.S., California, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. The aerial photo collection contains some 5,000 items, including valuable historical coverage of the Valley. The Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas Collection is second in size only to that of the Library of Congress, with more that 4,100 individual atlases tracing the evolution of cities and towns of the western United States, with some coverage of Canada and Mexico. The Library also contains an important collection of atlases.
All told, the Geography Department Map Library is one of largest and most valuable research cartographic collections in the nation and supports scholarship in many disciplines: Geography, Geographic Information Systems, Map Design, Urban Studies, Geology, History, Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, and many others. Managed by a dedicated professional Librarian with student assistants, it provides a uniquely valuable scholarly and technical environment for student education and success. It receives patronage and requests for reference and assistance from scholars the world over and is popular with the general public.
The Map Library’s functioning and success depend heavily on the existence of adequate and suitable facilities, and the preservation of the Library’s collections in accessible and physically integrated spaces.
Therefore, it is with alarm and outrage that we are, after a long silence, appealing to you to intercede to prevent further actions by the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences which will contribute to great harm to the Library, its mission, and to the students and public which it serves. The actions by the Dean are being taken without any of the consultation and negotiation which are normal to an academic environment. They have been, and are, being executed by decree.
The damage to the Library began more than a year ago, when the Dean took half of the then-inviting Reading Room space devoted to map consultation by students, faculty, and public and installed an expensive conference room (forbidden for use by students when not being used for Dean-approved meetings). The remaining reading room space was effectively ruined with cheap furniture, thoroughly inadequate lighting for consultation of maps, and no provision of needed electrical circuits, in marked contrast to the brightly lighted and well-furnished conference room. Needed storage space was also sequestered. That project caused considerable disruption and imposed massive inconvenience on students, staff and faculty. It continues to impose its costs through the inadequacy of the rump reading room, including lighting dangerous to patrons who attempt to work under it.
We are now, again without consultation, faced with a much more calamitous project on the part of the Dean, one which will do irreparable harm to the Library.
This proposal is the seizure of approximately half of the space devoted to flat map storage cases and their relocation to highly unsuitable spaces in the Garden Level of the Oviatt Library building, nearly a quarter of a mile from the rest of the collection. We have been told that the space carved out of the Map Library will be used to house a Criminology Program. In point of fact, it would make far more sense for that program to take the Oviatt space, which is already divided into offices. This would keep the Map Library collection intact, and make it unnecessary to move approximately 145 map cases, each weighing nearly 700 pounds (a total of around 50 tons). Furthermore, we have received indications that the proposed Oviatt space has a sub-basement below it, creating a safety hazard in that the floor may not support the weight.
A divided collection will cripple the Map Library and greatly hinder its effective use. It would require full-time staffing, which is not being provided. It would also require inconvenient and impractical movement of maps between the two facilities, causing inevitable damage and loss, and enormous waste of time by both staff and patrons.
Additional potential problems created by this project include:
Violation of the agreement with the federal government concerning the depository, which includes provisions for timely and rapid access, appropriate staffing (none is available), publicly-accessible computers, ADA compliance, and various additional requirements which we can detail on request. It is therefore potentially illegal.
We therefore request that the project be immediately halted and be subjected to careful examination by you and your office, particularly since reasonable, less costly, and more convenient alternatives exist.
We are more than ready to meet with you to provide additional details and substantiation of our position.
Robert Gohstand, Ph.D.
Professor of Geography, Emeritus
Director, Old China Hands Archive, Oviatt Library
Warren R. Bland, Ph.D.
Professor of Geography, Emeritus
(Signature provided by electronic means.)
Bill Bowen
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