3 messages.-------------------Johnnie ---------------------------------------------------------------- >Date: Thu, 05 Feb 98 11:44:29 CST >From: "Wendy Sistrunk" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re:future of paper maps > Is there a future for USGS maps in print form or are there > digital alternatives that can replace our paper collection now? Have you ever tried to print out a map from an electronic source if you don't have access to a fine printer? I have seen patrons in our library, enthused over finally pinpointing a picture of a map on the internet (after much time wading through useless hits), spend upwards of 30 minutes waiting while the image to be printed off. Meanwhile, the paper atlas (from which no doubt the electronic version was scanned) and photocopier stand there not four feet away. Too, digital alternatives are only as "mobile" as the hardware on which they are accessed dictates. %-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-% % Wendy Sistrunk Special Projects Catalog Librarian % % Miller Nichols Library University of Missouri-Kansas City % % 5100 Rockhill Rd. Kansas City, MO 64110-2499 % % voice: 816-235-5291 fax: 816-333-5584 % % [log in to unmask] % %-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%-%- %-% --------------------------------------------------------------- >From: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]> >Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 11:10:22 +100 >Subject: future of paper maps (A) The question is not whether print or digital maps are better but to what purpose the map collection is built and used. Though printed maps seem to be easier to handle they can not be integrated easily with other sources unless you make a new map (scanning is a hybrid solution as unfortunately the image is broken up into pixels and when more layers of information are printed over each other as is usual some of the information is lost as a pixel can only have one value. The scan is more two-dimensional than the original!). Unfortunately printed maps also cannot be broken down into the original basic data of which they were built. As users view the documentary world more and more as a demand-driven infrastructure than as a supply-driven infrastructure they need more basic information. I read on this list many times that American university collections discard old maps (an abhorent thought for a depository collection, but it seems feasible in their position) on the basis probably that a) their users mainly need up-to-date spatial information b) copies of older versions/material can be gotten from one of the many depository libraries. If my supposition is true I do not see why the collection should not go for digital maps, provided that these products combined with the services lent by the depository collections provide at least the same amount of services to the users as when the collection should own its own printed maps. The trend in documentary services and provision of materials in future will be more focussed on distributed fonds and technology in a one-shop-model in which case it doesn't really matter where they are physically conserved. At the moment this may not be feasible yet because the necessary infrastructure (organizational, electronical, technological) is not complete yet. It will put strain, however, on the service-supply of depository libraries and archives as they problably will have the prime function of providers, especially of older material. This will not only be true for analogue materials but also for digital materials. The problem of modulation/transformation/migration of electronic objects and databases is on everybody's tongue and mind, but there are as yet few who are willing or capable of envisioning a solution. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Jan Smits Map Curator Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of The Netherlands Department for Cartographical Documentation (SKD) Secretary European Map Curators Group (GdC de LIBER) tel: +31 70 3140241 fax: +31 70 3140450 e-mail: [log in to unmask] WWW SKD: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/karto-en.html WWW GdC: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/liber/intro.htm WWW personal: http://www.konbib.nl/persons/jan-smits/homepage.htm Na matheis kai na matheis ap'tous spoudasmenous To learn and still to learn from those who know (C.P. Cavafys) ------------------------------------------------------------------ >Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 08:46:24 -0600 >From: Lynne Raymond <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: future of paper maps There is an opinion piece in the October 1997 issue of Geotimes (pg.5) that addresses this issue, written by the State Geologists of Ohio, Kansas, and Kentucky. A very basic summary of their opinion is that "the future is not now". Lynne Raymond Illinois State Geological Survey Library At 03:55 PM 2/4/98 EST, you wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >I've been asked this question, so thought I'd pass it on to a larger >audience. Is there a future for USGS maps in print form or are there >digital alternatives that can replace our paper collection now? "Yes" or >"No" are not adequate answers, thank you. Can you give me your perspective >on what's available in digital format that undergraduates or the general >public might use in place of print 7.5' topos? Here at the University of >Rochester we are contemplating moving our map collection (39 cases of 7.5s >and at least 20 other cases) from one building to another. Space and >dollars are always examined closely, hence the question about digital >alternatives. How would YOU respond to your administration?? Thanks. > >