Re: Preservation Photocopying Question

[Janet Gertz <gertz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> The following situation has come up a couple of times in my department,
> and I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions from the group:
> 
> We make a limited number of photocopy replacements for brittle books every
> year. As part of the process, my technician does a careful search to
> determine if any reprints are available. 
> 
> Occasionally we will find a reprint listed in BIP, but the reprint press
> is one that our Acquisitions Dept. doesn't trust to ever come through on
> the order. There are, in fact, a couple of these firms with which they
> absolutely refuse to do business.
> 
> In such a situation, what would you do? 
> 
> 	1) Insist that Acquisitions go through the motions of ordering the
> reprint, just to demonstrate that you'd made a good faith effort to
> acquire the commercial copy? 
> 
> 	2) Go ahead and photocopy without bothering to order from the
> unreliable vendor?
> 
> This problem doesn't come up often enough to be a major problem, but it
> does occur. Any advice would be welcome.
> 
> *******************************************************************************
> Sara R. Williams			Phone:  (303) 492-3849
> Head, Preservation Department		FAX: (303) 492-0494
> University Libraries			Sara.Williams@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Campus Box 184
> University of Colorado - Boulder
> Boulder CO  80309-0184
> *******************************************************************************
> 

While we don't do much photocopying, we do run into the same situation
quite often with microfilm.  We have a private "black list" of
untrustworthy or defunct firms, and don't bother to try contacting them
to purchase copies.  We just go ahead and film.

Janet Gertz
Director for Preservation
Columbia University Libraries