Hello list--
 
I promised myself I would not weigh in on this debate, as it seems we go
"round about" with the issue every year.  However the bolded script below,
caused me to just have to respond.  Joy included this phrase from the
Digital Archiving article:
 
..."Because there is no universal mandate about what must preserved and for
what purpose (for example, an archivist's emphasis on records that bear
evidence vs. a librarian's emphasis on content that could serve multiple
purposes over time)..."
 
I would just like to comment that while archivists are indeed interested in
"records that bear evidence" we are just as interested in--and take into
account during appraisal--  records that serve a purpose beyond what their
originator intended--they do "serve multiple purposes over time."  The
identification and preservation of records that meet these multiple puposes,
I think, is just one of the shining and wonderful things archivists do for
posterity, and I personally am tired of hearing how the expressed perception
of archives and archivists implies that what we do has limited value
compared to a library (or a librarian) for that matter.
 
I'll get down off my soap box now.
 
Sincerely,
 
Elizabeth Fairfax, MA, CA
Director, Island County Records and Information Management Program
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Ketron, Joy [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 12:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The L Word


Good explanation of the difference between an archivist and a librarian from
a preservation perspective - 
From- Digital Archiving: What We Preserve, Not How by Abby Smith -CLIR -
Number 13
January/February 2000
"Among the greatest challenges to ensuring the long-term accessibility of
digital information is determining what it is that must be preserved. By
now, most librarians and archivists are well aware of the technical
challenges of saving bits and bytes, and those challenges are daunting
indeed. But beyond technical problems, there is a range of preservation
issues that are in flux because they depend upon common understandings that
have not yet been created..."Because there is no universal mandate about
what must preserved and for what purpose (for example, an archivist's
emphasis on records that bear evidence vs. a librarian's emphasis on content
that could serve multiple purposes over time)..."
 
And please let's not open that can of worms - librarian vs. library
assistant. After 30 years in the library field, it's an argument without
end.
 
Joy Ketron - Outreach Services
 <http://www.wrlibrary.org/> Watauga Regional Library 
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark
to read." ~Groucho Marx
 
 
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