[Phys-L] Re: Library stewardship: (was Doppler film loop)

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@REDSHIFT.COM>]

It's not only books -- it's equipment -- some may be old and not so
useful, but at least I'd think one "copy" would be kept for history
(museum).   At least in the case of UCB (Berkeley) they gave it away to
teachers, tho I did rescue one apparatus for Optical pumping of Rb (ESR)
from the trash *.   Most sad was a return (not from UCB) to the DOD of a
2 Ci Pu -Be neutron source simply because the RSO didn't want to deal w/
it.


* Some of the "really" old stuff, i.e. 100 years old instead of 50, was
kept and duplicates sent to an auction house.

bc, museum curator

Rauber, Joel wrote:

> This whole idea of librarians throwing out material willy-nilly is
> rather disconcerting.  It would seem to me to be anathema to the
> archival role that libraries should play in preserving the knowledge
> base.  At the very least, if pruning is absolutely required, than the
> advise of experts in the various content areas should be consulted and
> almost always followed when such exercises are forced upon them.
>
> (OTOH, I was quite jealous of the fellow student who managed to score a
> copy of Morse & Feshback for 50 cents when their library went through
> some similar exercise)
> ________________________
> Joel Rauber
> Department of Physics - SDSU
>
> Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu
> 605-688-4293
>
>
>
> | -----Original Message-----
> | From: Forum for Physics Educators
> | [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On Behalf Of Bernard Cleyet
> | Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 12:50 PM
> | To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
> | Subject: Re: Doppler film loop
> |
> | I was going to suggest she would probably throw out a first
> | ed. of "The Origin of species" too.  [Fortunately, such are
> | in special collections
> | -- or in private hands e.g. Garrett Hardin, whose copy's
> | cover fell off when he showed it to a class.]
> |
> | So, another cogent argument for small colleges.
> |
> | bc
> |
> | Edmiston, Mike wrote:
> |
> | >Concerning the library throwing out something without checking, Joel
> | >said, "I hope you complained vociferously."
> | >
> | >I say amen to that.  We got a new librarian a couple years
> | ago and she
> | >was concerned about lack of shelf space in the stacks, so
> | she started
> | >"pruning" the collection of "old out-of-date worthless
> | books."  Without
> | >asking she pruned (she literally threw in the trash) the Feynman
> | >Lecture Series and the Berkeley Physics Series.  Of course I did not
> | >discover this until they were gone.  When I complained, she
> | said they
> | >were too old and couldn't be of much value.  When I got
> | angry and told
> | >her that no bona fide librarian would throw out old books without
> | >checking their value she got angry back and told me it was her
> | >decision.  Being at a small institution, I went straight to the
> | >president.  Even though the president is not a scientist,
> | she had heard of Feynman.
> | >
> | >Now the librarian must check with each department before
> | throwing out
> | >any old books dealing with that department.  I thought I
> | would not be
> | >on speaking terms with the librarian any more, but she eventually
> | >apologized and said she had made a mistake.  Things got even better
> | >last year when her car went in the ditch on a snowy road and
> | I stopped
> | >and pushed her back onto the road.  She asks my advice quite
> | often now.
> | >
> | >
> | >Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
> | >Professor of Chemistry and Physics
> | >Bluffton University
> | >Bluffton, OH 45817
> | >(419)-358-3270
> | >edmiston@bluffton.edu
> | >
> | >
> | >
> | >
> |
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