-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Determining Rare Maps
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:26:52 -0400
From: Fry, Michael <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>
Carlos,
I don't mean to sound flippant, but I don't think you should worry about
what's "rare" as much as what's useful to the CWU community. I don't
think "rare" by itself is all that meaningful in a library setting
unless, perhaps, you're concerned about how much effort to put into
finding new owners for that stuff (for whom "rare" might be a genuine
selling point). Otherwise, decide whether it's beneficial to your users
to have access to print copies of the atlas folios, 15-minute topos,
etc. Those things are increasingly available online (e.g., Texas A&M's
digital collection of atlas folios at
http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/2490), so the information they
contain is increasingly ubiquitous, not rare. The artifacts themselves
are increasingly rare, but it's all relative. And so what? You are a
library, not a museum and not, for the most part, an archive. (I've
forgotten a lot of my FDLP rules & regs, but I don't think you're
legally obligated to keep any govdocs you acquired outside of the FDLP.
And since you joined in 1962, I think that would necessarily include the
atlas folios and 15-minute maps if not that "experimental" USGS map.)
I'm not trying to discourage you from keeping those things, nor do I
mean to sound uncaring about the artifacts themselves. (If you decide to
weed, I certainly hope you will make every effort to find a good home
for whatever you withdraw.) When at U-Md., I put a lot of effort into
collecting and conserving every 15-minute map of Maryland and DC I could
get my paws on. College Park is the state's flagship university, so it
seemed inconceivable to me that we wouldn't have a solid, if not
comprehensive, print collection of the earliest USGS topos of our own
state. I would do that all over again in a heartbeat, on principle if
nothing else. (If we didn't do it, who would?) OTOH, my effort to
collect a full set of the atlas folios would be harder to justify again
given the low use they saw. They are historic and useful, but did U-Md.
need the folios from Montana, Kansas, or Michigan? That can and should
be debated.
Good luck. I hate weeding. I especially hate weeding old things whose
value, if not rarity, I often feel unqualified to assess. And that
happens a lot!
mf
--
Michael Fry
Senior Map Librarian
National Geographic Society
1145 17th St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.857.7098 <tel:202.857.7098>
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 9:50 AM, Angie Cope, American Geographical
Society Library, UW Milwaukee <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Determining Rare Maps
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:58:06 -0700
From: Carlos Diaz <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
I posted the inquiry about how to determine if a map is rare due to a
possible weeding project in our maps collection. I would really
like to
know how to identify such maps. We are a Federal documents depository
and we have quite a collection of maps.
For example:
--Are the */Geologic Atlas of the United States/* that were
published in
the late 1800 and early 1900s be considered rare though quite a few
depository
collections may have them.
--How about the early 15 minute series maps. are they also
considered rare?
--The other day while going through the collection, a student worker
found a USGS map that included a black and white photo image (looked
like a satellite
image). Well, the map had the following phrase printed on the
lower right corner of the map: */Experimental Issue/*. Though not old,
could this be
considered rare because it was the first time they tested
something
new?
We don't want to remove something that could be valuable.
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,-~~-.___.
/ | ' \ "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of
( ) 0 the few or the one."
\_/-, ,----'
==== // Mr. Spock
/ \-'~; /~~~(O) Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
/ __/~| / |
=( _____| (_________|
Carlos A. Diaz
Government Publications, Maps, and Microforms
James E. Brooks Library
Central Washington University
Mailstop 7548
Ellensburg, WA 98926
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> <mailto:[log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
http://www.lib.cwu.edu/__government-publications/
<http://www.lib.cwu.edu/government-publications/>
Carlos' phone: (509) 963-1545 <tel:%28509%29%20963-1545>
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