-------- Original Message -------- Subject: sharing an older article about the IGN Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:46:19 -0500 From: Paige Andrew <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] All, In recent weeks I filled a gap in my own collection of MAGERT's formal journal, /Meridian/, by acquiring vol. 14 (1998) from someone here on MAPS-L....yet another great service that this list provides! (I now only lack vol. 15 :'( or I'd have a complete run?) Thanks go to great colleagues who made this journal possible from the late 1980s-late 1990s, folks like Charley Seavey, Alice Hudson, and David Cobb. There are many invaluable treasures in the form of articles and other information in this title, and I'd like to share but one that I wasn't aware of until perusing my recently-acquired vol. 14 issue: "Institut Geographique National - France" by Jean-Philippe Grelot. As a maps cataloger I'm very, very familiar with the many IGN products since I've been able to work with them both at UGA and in great quantity as we finished cataloging a portion of Penn State's maps collection falling into northern Africa. I only wish I had run across this article long before this because it gives a wonderful detail as to IGN map series, the organizational structure, etc. (as of the late 1990s) and on page 26 is a wonderful chart of all of the IGN map series by name, scale, number of sheets in the series, and number of copies published/distributed. The text of the article gives a bit of historical mapping background to the contemporary maps as well as techniques used, and even a discussion of the quandary between IGN being a public entity but its products being protected by copyright. If you're a cataloger like me who needs some context as to, for instance, the number of sheets in a given series, or provide reference services, either way this is a little gem of an article that will help users of all kinds, even ourselves! Paige