Subject: | RE: Do you 'rescue' maps from books? or maps as a matter of interest to curators of rare books and special collections |
---|---|
Date: | Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:50:06 +0000 |
From: | Weessies, Kathleen <[log in to unmask]> |
To: | Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]> |
I’m
enjoying this whole message thread, thank you all for
sharing. I wrote the original post with my
need-of-the-moment blinders on, not thinking of how my
question might be interpreted or shared. My library has
de-accessioning many print serials when we acquired
permanent online access, however I find I want to keep the
fold-out maps regardless of how nice the online equivalents
are. The US Congressional Serial Set is the set of volumes
currently targeted, not for withdrawl, but for off-site
storage. Hallie is spot on when she observes how many
times this very thin paper had to be folded to make the maps
fit down to the size of the volume. Even if they received
zero use, after 100 years or so they fall to pieces just by
unfolding them. So yes, I’m razoring out some of the maps
for flat storage. But there are about 30,000 maps
throughout the series (per Andrew Laas) and I only have time
and space to get the more mission-critical pieces.
I’m
intensely grateful to those libraries that have had more
carefully planned and executed projects of this kind. Those
of us who can’t save them all will likely take interest in
the maps depicting our own state or region and so
collectively and unintentionally, we may all be achieving a
map-themed Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe. Aside from
Michigan and Great Lakes, I can’t resist anything depicting
removal of Indians, establishment or deestablishment of
reservations, exploitation of natural resources and boundary
disputes.
My
hastily cobbled workflow has us making item records for each
map in the gigantic Serial Set catalog record, and each
physical volume is marked saying that the supplementary
items are located in the Map Library. Eventually I’d like
to see full cataloging of each piece.
My
Life as a Ripper, I love it!
Kathleen
Weessies
Geosciences
Librarian; Head, Map Library
Coordinator;
Collaborative Technology Labs
Michigan
State University
Main
Library
366
W. Circle Drive, W308
East
Lansing, MI 48824
517-884-0849
From:
Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Angie Cope, American Geographical
Society Library, UW Milwaukee
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 11:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Do you 'rescue' maps from books? or
maps as a matter of interest to curators of rare books
and special collections
People
contact me off list and sometimes it's just to good not to
share ...
Kathleen and Ed, we would like to see you write an article
entitled:
My life as a ripper.
Thank you.
angie and anonymous
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: |
Do you 'rescue' maps from books?
or maps as a matter of interest to curators of rare
books and special collections |
Date: |
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 09:33:02 -0600 |
From: |
Angie Cope, American Geographical
Society Library, UW Milwaukee
<[log in to unmask]> |
Organization: |
American Geographical Society
Library |
To: |
Maps-L <[log in to unmask]> |
Has anyone seen the movie
Momento where the film starts at the end and works it's
way to the beginning? Well, read this email that way too.
A VERY interesting conversation happening at the
[log in to unmask]
list that got forwarded to the exlibris rare and special
collections librarian list and now ... I'm forwarding to
map librarians. There were some special collections
librarians who were shocked but I think the reality is
that it happens.
What do you think?
Angie
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: |
RE: ["EXLIBRIS-L"] maps as a
matter of interest to curators of rare books and
special collections |
Date: |
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 10:15:55 -0500 |
From: |
Charles Alaimo <[log in to unmask]> |
Reply-To: |
|
To: |
I, and my map
colleagues before me, having been doing this for many
years at our institution. Folded maps on delicate or
acidic paper never survive when handled by patrons
after decades of being untouched, and flatening them
is the best policy, I believe. I have made it a
practice to always return the map bibliographically to
the original book or serial record, even if specific
map cataloging is lacking. Using our unique, in-house
classification, we add the map back to the record, and
pencil notes on the map and the book state its
origins.
Charles Alaimo
Rare Book and Map
Librarian
Grosvenor Room
Buffalo &
Erie County Public Library
1 Lafayette Sq.
Buffalo, NY 14203
716-858-7118
From:
raphaële mouren [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 9:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ["EXLIBRIS-L"] maps as a matter of
interest to curators of rare books and special
collections
thank
you Everett, you give the perfect answer.
And
what about text written on the verso of the map?
you just don't have it when you read the book or
the article?
Raphaële
2014/1/23 Angie Cope, American
Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee <[log in to unmask]>
There are SO MANY maps
bound into books/serials. It's a race against
time to preserve these resources. I don't think
map libraries are cutting maps out of 15th
century atlases but instead trying to save maps
from serials. These serials are increasingly
being weeded because they're "scanned" and
online. The quality of the "scans" through
google or haithi or whatever are often poor at
best.
Very interesting discussion and thank you so
much Donald for sharing. I'm not on the magirt
list and so I'm glad I got to see this.
Angie (map librarian)
AGS Library
On 01/22/2014 07:30 PM,
Donald Farren wrote:
Not to tattle, but I have learned, as enclosed, that map librarians "rescue" (their term) maps by razoring them from books for separate housing, the practice having the blessing of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress (although the division holds the maps uncatalogued), the justification being that not having to go to the books "saves a lot of time and energy." Our esteemed colleagues have their reasons that must be respected, but I wonder if the practice of breaking the books and obliterating the provenance of the maps makes anyone else nervous. How does this practice, in principle, differ from breaking atlases, commonly condemned by map librarians?
Donald Farren
4009 Bradley Lane
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-5238
voice 301.951.9479
fax 301.951.3898
mobile 301.768.8972
From: Hallie Pritchett [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 5:19 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Do you 'rescue' maps from books?Kathleen - John Phillips from Oklahoma State did a great presentation on this very topic at a DLC Conference and Meeting a couple of years ago. He talked specifically about pulling maps related to Oklahoma from the Serial Set and cataloging them separately. Don't know if he's on this list (I believe he's a MAGIRT member), but if he's at Midwinter I'm sure he'd be happy to discuss their project.
Hallie Pritchett
Map and Federal Regional Depository Librarian
University of Georgia Libraries
Athens, GA 30602
[log in to unmask]
706-542-0664
706-583-0631 (FAX)
Map and Government Information Library -
http://www.libs.uga.edu/magil/
From: Redmond, Edward James <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 5:04 PM
To: 'Weessies, Kathleen'; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Do you 'rescue' maps from books?Kathleen:
The Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress has been rescuing maps from the Serial Set for many years. Additionally, we have done the same with the RGS journals, and other 19th century maps tucked in War Department journals, etc.
By far, the largest project was our Serial Set rescue. From a reference point of view, these maps are invaluable and having the ability to go to the maps (based on Donna Koepps inventory) saves a lot of time and energy. While this collection is not cataloged, some of the maps have been scanned for a specific project.
If I were King of the Maps I would make one gigantic “rescued maps” collection with notes on all the different publications (Serial Set; RGS; etc.)
Ed
From: Weessies, Kathleen [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 5:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Do you 'rescue' maps from books?I’ve spent the last few days razoring maps out of the Serial Set – our volumes from the late 1800s and early 1900s are about to go to Remote Storage. Some old journals have fold-out maps in them too, such as from the Royal Geographical Society. If you’ve done a project to harvest maps for flat storage in the map library, I’d be interested in hearing of your experiences.
Hey, is this a good discussion topic for the Map Collection Manager’s discussion group this weekend?
When I saw the first booktruck in Catalog Maintenance with its numerous fold-out maps, I on-the-spot invented a workflow to rescue some of them. I can’t take them all, so I’m prioritizing the ones closest to our collection interests. Great Lakes, and all that, plus removal of Indians and other vital topics. Some maps fall into pieces at the fold lines the moment I touch them!
Kathleen Weessies
Geosciences Librarian; Head, Map Library
Coordinator; Collaborative Technology Labs
Michigan State University
Main Library
366 W. Circle Drive, W308
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-884-0849
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