We have recently been offered a retiring colleagues
collection of microfilms, made over a long career for the
purpose of her research in early modern literature. This is
by no means the first time we have landed ourselves such a
haul: we have perhaps thousands of similar reels of other
archives's holdings. As my librarian colleagues and I
understand it, copyright legislation means that, if any of
these films were specifically made for a researcher for his
or her own research, we have no right to make it available
to anyone else, and that in fact we might as well bin the
lot, including microfilms made in the sixties.
I find it hard to believe that the wholesale destruction of
secondhand copies of copyright manuscript material, whether
microfilm, digital images or photocopies, goes on in
practice. Moreover, I have often heard the argument put
forward by archivists that allowing copies to be made for
researchers at least helps to preserve the data within a
damaged manuscript. When one thinks of the
pre-twentieth century equivalent, copying out in long-
hand, this argument certainly carries weight.
Interestingly, informal words with fellow archivists on the
subject has revealed that the most likely sticking point
for them is whether the films fall within collecting
policy, and whether they would actually be used, not
whether it can be made available or not.
Would anyone else like to share their views on this
subject, particularly if you have a simple answer to the
problem (other than the 'hide them away in a corner of your
strongroom and forget about them' policy). As things stand,
we feel unable to advertise the fact that we have these
films, and if we cannot add them to the Library catalogue,
or list them as archival items, we may as well dispose of
them, as we do not have the resources to check with each
and every repository whether they object to us making them
available. My own opinion is that destroying them would
be a quite pointless, futile and dramatic waste of
information and research potential, but that we probably
have no choice but to do it.
(In case it has a bearing, the majority of manuscripts we
have here on microfilm, some made for individuals, some for
the library (it is not always possible to distinguish the
two) are from UK and American university repositories.)
Many thanks
Ian Mortimer
Archivist, University Library
Part-time Lecturer, Dept of History
University of Exeter
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