I probably should wait for my brain to catch up with my fingers but nah, I'm forwarding this one too.

-a-


-------- 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 11:31:06 -0600
From: Kevin Mac Donnell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: <[log in to unmask]>


It makes good since to remove anything from a book that is acidic and causing harm, assuming that there is no other way to mitigate that harm (like inserting tissue buffers) and folding maps on certain kinds of papers often do not survive when left folded in place for a long time.
But I think the practices that have been cited also include prints and non-folding inserts, and there was no mention that any of this is done selectively in accordance with a thoughtful conservation policy. I do recall that the original post was about maps and cited convenience and "time-saving" as justifications.
The comment that this was not being done to 15th century atlases brought a chuckle (never mind the cheerful thought that there are piles of 15th century atlases out there waiting to be harvested). It's hard to think of government reports and some modern publications becoming the incunabula of the future, but wait 500 years and check back with me on that. With that thought in mind, I have to wonder if Gutt'mberg, the infamous 15th century breaker and distant cousin to a certain printer used a similar excuse as he sliced out things from the new books of his own day ("hey, at least I'm not cutting up vellum mss!"). Which led me to think of the famous French breaker, Cancellans, whose friends teasingly nick-named him Cancellandum when they realized he did not replace what he cut out. He defended his habit of slicing up mss by explaining that he did not slice up nice old papyruses. Which led to thoughts of Egyptian king and breaker Princeps II, who cut up papyruses but respected old cuneiforms, or his father before him Ed Princeps who literally broke apart cuneiforms (hence the origins of the term "breaker"), and then we recall the cave dweller/breaker, his name lost to history, who defaced cave paintings but not drawings in the dirt. Of course it all started with that very first breaker who used a stick to wipe away somebody else's map drawn in the dirt. I hope he was clubbed.
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
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You may browse our books at
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----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Charles Alaimo
To: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 9:15 AM
Subject: RE: ["EXLIBRIS-L"] maps as a matter of interest to curators of rare books and special collections

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
[log in to unmask]
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

[log in to unmask]

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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