Dear All,

For information.

Nick

--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 17:08:07 +0000
From: Ken Atherton <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: FW: [Fwd: FW: Map collection and disposal policy of the 
University Library]
Sender: Ken Atherton <[log in to unmask]>

Just in case you have missed earlier announcements.


Dear Ken,

Not a good sign! Perhaps you can circulate.

Regards

Tim

Dr Tim Rideout
Director
 
Visit XYZ at the International Map Trade Show in the Czech Republic on
24/25th Feb 2006.
 
The XYZ Digital Map Company
Unit 9 Phase 2 Hardengreen Business Park
Dalhousie Road 
Dalkeith Scotland EH22 3NX

Tel +44 131 454 0426

Fax +44 131 454 0443

Mobile + 44 7766 825937

E-mail [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Anja Gunderloch [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 15 December 2005 17:06
To: Tim Rideout
Subject: [Fwd: FW: Map collection and disposal policy of the 
University Library]

Any chance in dropping a broad hint to your various cartographic 
contacts? I think it's time to set the cartographic cats among the 
library pigeons here...
Anja.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	FW: Map collection and disposal policy of the University
Library
Date: 	Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:35:39 +0000
From: 	J E Fraser <[log in to unmask]>


This has been brought to light in SHC by Eberhard Sauer in Classics: I
suspect most of you will be as appalled by this as I am... note 
perhaps in particular the inclusion of all maps of Ireland and 
Scandinavia for obliteration

----- Forwarded message from [log in to unmask] -----
    Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:21:06 -0000     From: PORTEOUS Gayle 
<[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: PORTEOUS Gayle 
<[log in to unmask]>  Subject: FW: Map collection and disposal 
policy of the University Library


TO ALL STAFF IN HISTORY & CLASSICS:

For your information.

Kind Regards,
Gayle

Dear colleagues,

Yesterday I sent the following message to Margaret Dowling of the 
University Library. I have now been encourged to pass this on to the 
entire School. If you agree that disposing of the University 
Library's maps covering all parts of the world other than the U.K. 
and of a substantial proportion of those covering the U.K. is 
undesirable, to say the least, you might want to consult the relevant 
document (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/news/mapsdisposals.html) and 
register your protest by the deadline (23 December). You may also be 
interested and surprised to find out that the library appears to base 
this policy on the assumption that areas outside the U.K. are not 
currently being taught or researched at this University. May this 
explain why they sold of much of the Drummond Library, a collection 
built up over generations, without considering it necessary to ask 
any of us? Which books or other documents will be sent to the shredder
next? I agree with my colleague, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, that this 
cultural vandalism and it is high time that we protest before it 
progresses any further. Any message to Mrs Dowling ([log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>), however short, will make it more 
difficult for the library to go ahead with this.

Best wishes,

Eberhard
Eberhard Sauer wrote:

> Dear Mrs Dowling,
>
> Only recently has one of our postgraduate students drawn my 
attention > to the plans of the library to dispose of substantial 
parts of its map

> collection (including of virtually all covering parts of the world 
> other than the U.K.!). Our School's library representative, Dr Judy 
> Barringer, has kindly referred me to the relevant document 
> (http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/news/mapsdisposals.html).
>
> I must say that, in my view, it beggars belief that the Library 
should

> even consider disposing of parts of its map collection covering 
most > of the globe. Maps are essential in many fields of research, 
including

> geography, history and archaeology. It is often very difficult to 
find

> the location of a smaller site, mentioned in other publications. 
That > your first criterion is usage level is particularly shocking. 
I > consulted on several occasions old books in libraries, which 
nobody > had looked at for over a century; the pages were yet uncut. 
Some of > this material contained unique primary information, which 
was > essential for my publications. A library which disposes of 
material on

> the basis of frequency of use, forfeits the right to be called a 
> research library. My fear is that what you do with maps today, you 
may

> do with important books tomorrow. Are we at the edge of a slippery 
> slope? Your point number 5 is even more shocking: 'Maps covering 
areas

> which are not currently being taught or researched at the 
University > of Edinburgh.' How can you claim that there are parts of 
the world > which are not currently being researched at the 
University of > Edinburgh? I looked at maps of all Continents during 
my research and > this comment betrays a complete miscomprehension of 
the definition and

> nature of research. Even if there were geographic areas nobody is 
> interested in at the moment, do you think future scholars will 
thank > you for having destroyed what would have been essential for 
them? > However, your list implies that there are no scholars at this 
> University working on areas other than the U.K. I must tell you that I

> have met some, haven't you? Your criterion that maps have been 
> superseded does not impress either. Any scholar who has used maps 
for > research knows that earlier maps often contain valuable 
information, > which has been omitted from later editions, e.g. what 
the landscape > looked like prior to development. The qualification 
'with due > consideration of the importance of earlier editions' 
shows that you > have thought of this as well, but it gives me no 
confidence that the > decision as to whether earlier editions are 
important enough will be > based on more than an ad hoc decision of 
one individual. At the very > least I would like to see an absolute 
guarantee that any academic > material which is unique at Edinburgh, 
irrespective of whether you > consider it important or not, will be 
kept by at least one library in > the city. To have duplicate copies 
would be preferable. >
> This procedure and what recently happened to the collections of the 
> Drummond library, built up over generations, makes me believe that the

> library has every intention of irreversibly ruining our already now 
> inadequate research collections, driven by the ideology that saving 
> shelving space is its prime purpose. It is sad to see that our 
library

> appears to be in hands of colleagues who neither appear to be 
> sufficiently interested in research nor adequately consult with 
those > who are. I haven't heard, for example, about the sell-off the 
> collections of the Drummond Library until it was well under way. I 
> equally doubt that the plans to further reduce space for books in 
the > library by creating coffee shops and further offices has been 
based on

> a democratic decision of those whom it will affect most, i.e. the 
> postgraduate students and the academic staff. Such facilities could 
> easily be housed in nearby University property which, one hears, 
the > University intends to sell. Do you really believe we will 
attract > postgraduate students by reducing the way to the next 
coffee-shop by a

> few metres, if they then have to travel to London or Oxford to get 
> hold of the books or maps they need (as we never bought the books 
or > maps or sent those we had to the paper shredder)?
> > This policy is, in my view, as short-sighted, as it is 
irresponsible. > The sooner it is stopped, the better for everybody.
> > I take the liberty of copying this message to my colleagues. 
Needless > to say that I do not claim that this represents anything 
other than my

> personal view, even if there is little doubt that more and more 
people

> I have spoken to recently are horrified by the direction in which 
the > library is heading.
> > Yours sincerely,
> > Eberhard Sauer
> > Lecturer in Classical Archaeology
> >





----- End forwarded message -----


--
------------------
Dr James E. Fraser
Lecturer in Early Scottish History and Culture University of Edinburgh

CONTACT ADDRESSES (choose one):
Scottish History           Celtic and Scottish Studies
University of Edinburgh    University of Edinburgh
17 Buccleuch Place         19 George Square
Edinburgh  EH8 9LN         Edinburgh  EH8 9LD
Tel. 0131.650.4034         Tel. 0131.650.3624




--
Dr Anja Gunderloch
Lecturer in Celtic

Celtic and Scottish Studies
Celtic Section
19 George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LD

phone 0131 651 1374





________________________________________________________

Nick Millea
Map Librarian, Bodleian Library, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG
tel:      01865 287119
fax:     01865 277139
email: [log in to unmask]

homepage: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps/
________________________________________________________