----------------------------Original message---------------------------- HelenJane, the problem is interesting alright, and you didn't even get to the personal liability part! i like your solution and will incorporate it into the WAML master homepage. Maps of abandoned mines could be in this catagory, too. LC ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I was interested to read the message from Jon Hagee about cavers and cave maps. There are a number of caves and caves with springs/rivers in Florida that cavers and cave divers use. We had to make a decision several decades ago as to whether we would collect maps of these areas for the Map & Imagery Library. This was an interesting acquistion decision to make since the University of Florida library has the major map collection in the state. We try to collect as many maps of Florida as possible. However, each year there are deaths in the state amony cavers and divers. Many of these are divers who are unfamiliar with cave diving and just try to locate a spring and dive in its caves without checking with experts. Cave diving is a sport in which a significant amount of special training is needed and even then we have lost a number of experienced divers in the past two decades. The state of Florida has sunshine laws and requirements to provide open access to most of its materials in public facilities. This complicates the matter as to whether we would acquire the cave and spring maps. Our solution is not totally satisfactory, however currently we maintain a list of contacts of local cavers and cave diving groups to which we refer people. Because of our work with this community, we can usually tell people if maps do exist and how they can obtain them from legitimate sources. This greatly helps us to provide service to the annual "snow birds" who lack the necessary experience but have just enough knowledge to be a danger to themselves. The person needing the maps for research and not the sport is provided with another contact. I would be very interested in learning how others handle this type of spec- ialized maps in public institutions. The collecting of maps of archeological sites which have not yet been studied has presented a similar problem. This has all sorts of side issues of censorship, a library's mission and service to the people that fund it and its role in protecting people and artifacts from other people. Of course in this day and age of Internet access a new set of issues are developing in this type of situation. As I said I am interested in how others have handled the situation as you probally tell we are as yet unsatisfied with any of the possible stances that have been suggested or attempted. The debate now is to whether we will collect the original cave maps once they are no longer useful for the sport but of interest for the historical researcher. HelenJane Armstrong, Map & Imagery Library, University of qFlorida.