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
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
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
A posting
from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of
American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation,
please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In
body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post
a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt
<[log in to unmask]>
A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html