Nicholson Baker article

I read the letter to The New Yorker written by Winston Tabb of the
Library of Congress, with some concern. It seems to me that
Nicholson Baker should be congratulated, not censured, for bringing
important issues to our attention. In his original article Nicholson
Baker did not assert that all newsprint will last indefinitely, but
that it is 'often surprisingly well preserved'. Many of us would
agree with that. To back up his argument, the article reproduced
rare colour-printed newsprint in excellent condition that was being
de-accessioned.

Nicholson Baker then made two important, but often overlooked,
observations about microfilmed material which is being
de-accessioned:

    1.  Much old microfilm is of extremely poor quality.

    2.  Much colour material has only been microfilmed in black and
        white.

I would also add that many newspapers ran into several different
editions, but often only one has been microfilmed.

Here in the University of London, the Institute of English Studies
<ies [at] sas__ac__uk> will be holding a one day conference 'Do we want to
keep our newspapers' on 12 March 2001 to consider these issues. I
hope preservation professionals will contribute to a constructive
debate.

Roy Moxham


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:24
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 18, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-14-24-001
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