ode for tangible collections
Even though computer media are less robust in muddy water than paper media and all electronic communication depends on electrical power, still there are new disregards of legacy collections. And even while newsprint production doubles in blacked-out cities and libraries are crowded, still there is a feeling that media from the past are passé.
I blame displaced metrics of customer service used to value physical collections. Libraries and archives are being measured by service metrics used for car repair or fast food. It is not that apparent that libraries and archives could have very few customers and yet serve to organize and convey knowledge.
The current generation is not really living alone. We need perspective that physical collections and cultural transmission provide. And any effort to preserve collections at a time of risk and disaster is an action of pride and a thrilling effort of regard for history.
lip balm
The writer mentions an early silent reader who could "speak without moving lips". It is not certain if anyone has managed screen reading prompted by lip motion.
"Perhaps the real danger posed by screen-based technologies is not that they are rewiring our brains but that the collection of search engines, news feeds and social tools encourages us to link, to follow and read only that which we can easily assimilate."
Bill Thompson
katrina-like
We finally got access to the
Czech Museum and Library. This is a relatively small institution, but with highly varied and specialized collections. The situation is severe with an 8 foot water mark inside. We opened, cleared and mucked out the building today and will begin to snake out wet collections tomorrow. A cooperative and helpful Steamatic crew is working with us. We did not get clearance to inspect the African/American museum today.
Cedar Rapids is very Katrina like, especially with the sudden very high rise and sudden run-off. Building contents surged and broke through windows and doors. Large residential areas are a mess. We will be going in in the morning to deshelve and pack out. One good workday should do it. The card catalog and other indexes were immersed, but look OK. Very little was washed down stream although we have a percentage of collections in the mud inside. Entire collections, except select pre-flood evacuations and storage building mezzanene, are soaked.
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