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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