----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Jim mentioned that scanning an item too many times could ruin the pigment. However, if the item were scanned once at a very high resolution, couldn't the file be stored and retrieved for patrons when they wanted to view the item? This might even be a good way to start out "browsing" a collection of historic maps. The patron could sit at a computer screen, examine scans of the maps available in a collection for a particular area at a given time, and select the maps that they wish to view. Face it, no matter how good a cataloging record is, it will never convey all of the details that the map itself, or a picture of it, shows. Such a scheme, if tied into the Web, would make historical research in some of the major U.S. collections easier. We could check on what is available, and what we wish to see, BEFORE getting on a plane and travelling to a library. Linda Zellmer U. of WY