David and all--
What about the shelf list? That would have been my first choice-even back then.
We started a new catalog in 1980 when I came, as there was no way to close a 7+ year gap in it (long sad story, that). We saved the old catalog and I'm glad we did. It has provided historical information for materials that we either purged (mainly Congressional materials that the local Depository Library didn't need) or donated (our rail history materials went to the Illinois State Library). We use the catalog several times a year as a starting point when we get requests for historical information. We probably don't hold it today, but we can at least verify that something once existed.
-Kay Collins, US Railroad Retirement Board Chicago
-----Original Message-----
From: David P. Dillard [mailto:jwne@astro.ocis.temple.edu]
Posted At: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 6:22 PM
Posted To: Library Group Mailbox
Conversation: Library and Librarians in Movie
Subject: RE: Library and Librarians in Movie
Since a burning issue has become the topic of discussion on this list,
permit me to add some flames to the fire, real ones, historic ones.
Early in my years in the library field, I vividly remember Broad Street
lined for two or three blocks in the heart of North Philadelphia with fire
trucks and equipment at Temple University. The subject of their attention
was the law library. As some sit in the quiet of their thoughts, deciding
what one would save and what one would burn, no such time luxuary for
contemplation existed here. The decision as to what should be saved seems
ironic in todays economy and I suspect today's decision would be very
different if this untoward event were in this evenings news. The decision
was made to save the card catalog, the same year after the main Temple
library first started getting catalog cards from OCLC. A human line was
formed and drawers were passed from the building to the outside as rapidly
as possible. Much of the library collection was lost. Today, the law
library catalog is an Innovative Interfaces online catalog and a part of
the entire online cataloging system at Temple.
There is one other interesting irony in this matter. I am not certain if
a cause of the fire was determined finally and what that cause was, but
one cause that we heard about at the time was said to be sparks from
welders torches who were at work constructing the new law school that
would contain the new law library not many months down the road. I think
that one real value of a story like this is the light that it sheds on the
changes that have occured in our profession regarding what is valuable and
worth preserving. Some twenty or more years later, the cards from the
main library card catalog from 1972 on became a rich resource for the
library using public for scrap cards for writing down the call numbers and
citations they found in our first generation GEAC online catalog.
For those interested in this sad moment in history, here are some websites
that can be viewed.
History [Of the Law School and Law Library]
<http://www2.law.temple.edu/files/history.htm>
On Book Preservation
Lynn Smith, C.A.
University of Denver Law Library
DU Library School Student
<http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/coall/scuttle/july98/preservation.htm>
12. Cost of vacuum-drying and freeze-drying
<http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8707e/r8707e0e.htm>
"At the same time, insurance officials at Temple University, site of the
library, had calculated the cost of restoration would be about $4.00 per
volume as opposed to $25.00 per volume for cost of replacement. However,
it was recognized that many of the salvaged volumes could not be replaced
at any cost (57)."
The above chapter and quote are from:
Vacuum freeze-drying, a method used to salvage water-damaged archival and
library materials: a RAMP study with guidelines
prepared by
John M. McCleary
General Information Programme and UNISIST
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Original: English
PGI-87/WS/7
Paris, April 1987
Table of contents (63 p.) [Hyperlinked]
<http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8707e/r8707e00.htm#Contents>
It is easy to talk about fires that involve library materials in the
abstract, but to librarians who live through them, as our colleagues in
the Temple Law library did in 1972 and librarians in, I believe it was a
library in Georgia in the past year or two, such fires are a very
traumatic experience. Please do not take the last comment as any criticism
of this witty and enjoyable discussion of the movie or any of the prior
comments in this thread. My observations are not so intended. It is also
fascinating how quickly librarians, sport psychologists and athletic
trainers are discussing the representations made of members of their
field, real and fictional. I sure this also happens in other fields, but
it has been interesting to watch over the years in these three fields.
Indeed a thread about sport psychology and sport psychologists in the
movies on the Temple listmail server led to this interesting development
on the internet coplete with its own acronym:
The Sport Psychology Movie Database (SPMD)
<http://www.geocities.com/sportsmovies/>
Public Archives of the SportPsy Discussion Group
<http://listmail.temple.edu/archives/sportpsy.html>
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@astro.temple.edu
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
World Business Community Advisor
<http://www.WorldBusinessCommunity.org>
==========================================================
On Wed, 2 Jun 2004, Elisabeth McKechnie wrote:
> I don't think it's flippant at all. In fact, it's made me start to wonder
> what books I would choose to burn if I had to, and which ones I would
> preserve...
> At 02:12 PM 6/2/2004 -0400, Carey, Elisabeth wrote:
> >And now that I've posted this, I find I'm unhappy with my own flippancy. My
> >apologies to everyone.
> >Lis Carey
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Carey, Elisabeth
> >Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 2:04 PM
> >To: Callister, Paul D.; law-lib@ucdavis.edu
> >Subject: RE: Library and librarians in movie
> >Neither the patrons nor the furniture would make good tinder or kindling,
> >though they'd probably work as fuel. In order to get the fire started in the
> >first place, they'd probably have to prioritize which books are
> >irreplaceable cultural knowledge, in either the cultural-legacy or
> >practical-knowledge senses, and which books, such as the US tax code, might
> >be nice for historical and anthropological researchers of a future
> >civilization to have, but are less useful in getting to that point.
> >Lis Carey
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