[vcf-midatlantic] An idea for preservation and a proposal for the future of the VCF's library of written media.

[Dave McGuire]

On 5/13/22 22:32, Douglas Crawford via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> Just a thank you for bringing it up.
> It may yields some new ideas or rethink.
> I'm one that values
> this old material and do lament the chopping up of the originals
> to get things scanned.  Maybe magazines that would wear and
> fade but I've seen things destroyed that should not necessarily
> been done.
> 
> Before I knew better, in the first year I was involved in
> VCF, I assisted in an effort to scan some
> remarkable Burroughs manuals- removing the pages from the
> most amazing bindings, which were trashed, and sending the
> beautiful pages to archive.org. Archive.org is awsome, and
> the material belongs there, but there had to be a better way
> for this particular set.
> 
> Lets keep talking about these issues.

   The goals of preserving the content vs. preserving the book are 
usually at odds.  It's not an easy judgment call to make.  We have a 
large but dormant (due to lack of volunteers) scanning operation at 
LSSM.  The best I've been able to come up with is that it's ok to 
destroy a book in order to preserve the content if other copies can be 
found.  But that doesn't seem to make it any easier.

            -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA