-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Cataloging policy and practice for maps extracted from
atlases
Date:   Fri, 16 May 2008 11:55:10 -0700
From:   [log in to unmask]
To:     [log in to unmask]




The head of Special Collection in my library does not see cataloging
maps extracted from atlases as an ethical issue. Most atlas sheets on
the market (Johnson or Colton for example) are from very common atlases
that can be found intact in very many libraries. The atlas sheets from
the various western surveys are very common in the market. We have the
atlas volume from the Pacific railroad survey for example, in which the
maps are brittle and folded, and therefore unusable. We have kept the
volume intact, but we have purchased many of the maps as separate
sheets. In fact, many of these sheets were originally issued unbound and
were bound later by the owner. We do think maintaining the integrity of
a volume is important. We might disbind a volume to encapsulate or
repair the pages and then rebind, but even then, we have altered the
original. Not all volumes are sacrosanct, and in many cases, a separated
sheet will, in fact, be better preserved and more accessible than if it
were in a bound atlas volume, It depends on the volume, and that
decision is better left to the curator or subject librarian. Atlases are
broken, by the owners, by dealers, and by museums and libraries.
Sometimes it is for a good reason. We think that not cataloging material
in one's collection because one doesn't approve of how the collection
was handled before it came to the library is a little presumptuous.
Material that was stolen is, of course, and entirely different matter.

Katherine Rankin
Special Collections Catalog Librarian
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Maps-L Moderator <[log in to unmask]>


                        *Maps-L Moderator <[log in to unmask]>*
                        Sent by: "Maps, Air Photo & Geospatial Systems
                        Forum" <[log in to unmask]>

                        05/16/2008 08:19 AM
                        Please respond [log in to unmask]



To

[log in to unmask]

cc


Subject

Cataloging policy and practice for maps extracted from atlases




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Cataloging policy and practice for maps extracted from
atlases
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 10:05:16 -0500
From: Harry Davis <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>



Advice needed!

We have a number of map sheets that exist as items removed (not by us)
from atlases, most especially pre-20^th -century atlases. Some of these
maps are gifts, while some are past purchases.

Cataloging administration at this library has expressed strong
reluctance to provide any publicly-shared cataloging (via OCLC) for maps
that have been extracted from historical atlases. The position is
principled in the belief that “breaking” integral books (atlases in this
case) is ethically and professionally unacceptable and that our
institution should not condone such practice by agreeing to catalog
extracted maps.

What policy do other libraries observe for such situations?

We have noted the prevalence of maps separated (historically) from
atlases and the value of a record for individual maps once this is the
fact of the situation –that is, that we are not doing the breaking and
that an extracted map retains intellectual value even if tainted by the
removal. We are also mindful, of course, of the map theft for sale issues.

I suppose a corollary question is one of whether gifts of extracted maps
should be declined (and purchases not undertaken).

What can others contribute to this discussion?

Thanks,

Harry Davis

Map Librarian

Liaison Librarian for Civil and Environmental Engineering,

Geography and Environmental Resources, Geology,

Maps, and Mining and Mineral Resources Engineering

Morris Library

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Carbondale, IL 62901-6632

Phone: 618~453~2372

[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>