Dear all,
Is anybody else out there concerned by todays reports that the British
Library is again to start a programme of destruction, sorry
'de-accessioning' of sections of its collection of historic newspapers.
Anyone pacified by their reassurances of the redundancy of this material
thanks to the existence of other copies in their native countries (most of
the 'papers concerned are from foreign publications) should read a recent
article in the New Yorker magazine (July 24, 2000) by Nicholson Baker. This
excellent article exposes the BL's de-accessioning campaign to have been
little more than cultural vandalism on a monumental and disgraceful scale,
with the BL in many cases mistakenly relying on early and almost completely
unreadable microfilms in their country of origin (where they exist at all).
This article also points to major flaws in the process by which these items
were offered to other institutions and for sale to private individuals which
led to thousands of items being reduced to wood-pulp
Obviously the responsibility of their role and the enormous advantages of
being able to consult irreplaceable original sources is lost on the BL, as
must be its conscience.
Steve Bailey
Senior Information Officer
Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education
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