I made an attempt at this once – I measured the depth of maps in a drawer, then counted how many maps that was, then multiplied that by number of drawers. I gave the number to administration as a rough estimate, as folded maps, thickness of paper, mylar on encapsulated maps, etc. all effected the relationship between the measurement of the stack and number of maps in the stack plus no drawer was the same depth and I didn’t have the time to measure drawer by drawer. Is it an accurate number, not at all, was it enough to appease the higherups… I guess, they never asked again. As you point out it was mostly meaningless as a total, but my rough estimate of number of sheets was also kind of meaningless as it was just based on a previous number I found that I added to based on the number of new items in the collection.

 

Sierra Laddusaw
(she/her)

Associate Librarian | Scholarly Communication Librarian
Boreham Library
University of Arkansas - Fort Smith

479.788.7217 | [log in to unmask]

 

 

 

 

From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Fry, Michael
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 9:29 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: map collection measurement

 

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If your superiors asked you to describe the size/extent of your sheet map collection, what would you say? In what unit(s) of measurement would you provide an answer?

 

I'm being pressured to answer the question in terms of linear feet--again, for sheet maps--and can't get my head around that. The only way I can get to "linear feet of maps" is to literally stack them on top of each other and measure the height of the stack. Which, IMO, would be a ridiculous (and meaningless) way to measure the size/extent of the collection. Much less meaningful than # of sheets, or number of drawers, or even square feet (of area occupied by map cases).

 

I'm off to search the literature on this, but wondering what your thoughts are. ?

 

Thank you.

mf

 

--

Michael Fry
Collections Manager | Map Library Manager
National Geographic Society Library, Archives & Media Management
202.807.3139

 

1145 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036