Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
Thanks to all who responded to this thread on whether to open or leave
unopened books when cataloging into the collection. The following is
a summary of the responses I received. Hopefully, this acknowledges the
different points of view.
4 Oct "Don't open a book unless there is a pressing need to do so! ...
1) Keep it closed, uncut, and box it as a rarity for displays ...
2)Check on the rarity of the thing ...
2)Check on the rarity of the thing ...
3)Trade it to a library with extensive collections on Origen, the Classics,
of in printing of the country. ...
Uncut books from earlier centuries are becoming so scarce as to be
unfindable. In such condition the book itself becomes an artifact of an industr
and craft, not just a text ... I strongly encourage you to leave it uncut as a
gift to the future"
Richard Saunders, Montana State University
4 Oct "If a patron requests a book that has uncut pages, we will then open
them; otherwise, we leave as is.
Sharon Snow, Wake Forest U., Winston-Salem, N.C.
4 Oct "Why would you have a book a patron couldn't read? And why waste
time opening books ... which no one yet wants to read. Seems that common
sense would say open a book when someone has a need for it."
Philip A. Metzger, Lehigh U., Bethlehem, PA
4 Oct "Well, when I was an undergraduate at Harvard the great Jackson took
me into the vault at Houghton and showed me shelves of uncut books. He
explained that they had perfectly good reading copies as well."
Paul Rich, Universidad de last Americas - Puebla
4 Oct
In general, I would opt for opening any unopened book at the time it is
processed/catalogued, before it is shelved, unless there is some clear
bibliographical benefit to be gained from leaving it unopened. (This
might be as simple as wanting an example for class presentations.)...
Why would you have a book a patron couldn't read? Because the patron
might want to know something about how it was put together, sometimes
even more avidly than wanting to read it. And why waste time opening
books which no one yet wants to read? Because if you wait until someone
wants to read it, it might not be conveneient for you, or there might not be
a suitably trained staff member available.
By 1970 at least the general rule at Houghton was to open during cataloguing
any book not already opened; a note was then made on the verso of the main
catalogue card to the effect that it had been unopened before cataloguing
(thus providing a bit more information to anyone later collating the
book...
John Lancaster, Amherst College
4 Oct "Regarding unopened books; I agree with Phil Metzger's sentiment
about a (n institutional) library having books that no one can read.
A future observation: unopened books to be given to a reader should be
opened carefully by staff before giving to readers, who may try to
open them with fingers, pencils, and the like, thereby making a mess.
Paul Banks, U of Texas, Austin
4 Oct "if I did have two copies of a significant book that cutting
the pages of both would give me pause.
Paul Rich, U de las Americas - Puebla
5 Oct "Most of us do not have the resources to keep an unopened copy and
a reading copy. Frankly, it all sounds a bit precious to me.
Philip A. Metzger, Lehigh U. Bethelehem, PA
5 Oct "...a book is better opened by someone who is used to doing it,
rather than by a library user who is bursting with impatience to get
at the contents.
Michael Smallman - Queen's, Belfast
5 Oct "Because we are a library of Connecticut imprints and we are
interested in preserving bibliographical evidences about books, etc.,
printed in this state, we never open unopened copies. Most of the
time we do have duplicates people can use, but not always, and I
regularly purchase unopened copies when I can find them. These items
cannot be delivered to the Reading Room without my permission and
are intended for the use of those doing bibliographical research.
Everett C. Wilkie, Jr. Connecticut Historial Society
5 Oct "In an institutional setting, I fall on the side of utility to the
reader, rather than monetary value.
Peggy Daub
U of Michigan
5 Oct "I don't think hand-press period books should be slitted if there is
a readable copy available. One can learn all sorts of interesting things
from uncut copies.
Bob Dawson, U of Texas, Austin
5 Oct (2nd message) "Info sometimes available from unopened books, largely
pre-1800; it's physical state, form in which it may have been sold; details
of placement of engravings' cancels (which leaves are, how handled, etc.)
sometimes helping with difficult format id-ing (e.g. with wove, no water
marks, etc.); curious assignments of printing things in odd places, etc.
Bob Dawson, U of Texas, Austin
5 Oct "Why would I want to "infer" something from an unopened copy when I
could know for a certainty from an unopened copy? Give me an unopened
copy any day. It's the difference between eating and dining.
Everett C. Wilkie, Jr. Conn. Historical Society
5 Oct"There have been times when the information about conjugacy and
folding provided by an unopened book has been both surprising and
informative to me, particularly in relatively modern books.
Here however we open any book which a reader needs. We do retain some
unopened duplicates in areas of our specialization although we do not
deliberately acquire such duplicates.
Alexandra Mason, Spencer Research Library, U of KS
6 Oct "...there's no point in opening a book, whether by book or by
[that should read: whether by card or by knife,] until a reader
needs to read it. And I wonder just how many institutions have the
resources to preserve an unopened copy in perpetuity by acquiring
an additional reading copy. And what would you do if someone wanted
to do textual collation, perhaps with a machine, using that unopened
copy?
Philip A. Metzger, Lehigh U, Bethlehem, PA
6 Oct "...this thing about opening uncut books versus leaving them
unopened... We obviously have a division here between the people
who believe "books are for readers" and the people who believe that
libraries are actually 'book museums' where no one is allowed to
touch the collection. ... Preservation is important, nay essential,
however, when carried to such extremes it no longer serves a purpose.
For what/whom are you preserving the material if not for scholars and
readers? And of what value is a book that no one can read?
Gary Lee Phillips, NOTIS Systems
6 Oct "...some cases, the text is available in another medium, such as
Evans and AI microcards. ...But if you really have to use the book,
their condition is usually such that I can accomodate you. None of the
items have bindings on them, so it is usually just a matter of snipping
the stichting, unfolding the sheet, and voila! You can read it; you just
have to go through a few careful contortions to do so.
...my institution is in many ways a book museum. We are very concerned
about documenting this state's printing heritage in as original condition
as possible. But, we do try to balancer that need against the needs of
those who are in fact trying to do research into the very things we
seek preserve. Reconciling those two needs sometimes requires some
ingenuity, but I've never yet had anyone stomp out in unsatisfied
disgust.
Everett C. Wilkie, Jr. Conn. Historical Society
6Oct "The value of an unopened copy is that it provides clear evidence of
how the book was imposed -- once it is opened, the link between conjugate
pairs is no longer certain... I suggest, indeed recommend, that opening be
the default value, i.e. the normal action, to be taken unless particular
circumstances argue for retaining the copy unopened).
In any case, preserving this sort of bibliographical evidence seems to me
no more "precious" than preserving other sorts of bibliographical evidence.
John Lancaster, Amherst College
6 Oct "I would, however, somehow retain ONE copy of an uncut book, with
an extra reading copy, since I occasionally try to teach students the
history of information transmission and printing.
Dean DeBolt, U of West Florida
6 Oct "Libraries in general and special collections themselves have, it
seems to me, different functions. Usually (often?) a book in a special
collection is not there for the purposes of its content. They are not
"reading copies"...The text of the book can be found in other sources.
What is being preserved is the historical artifacts of the book's
production. In this sense, a special collection is indeed a museum,
but that doesn't make the materials held there useless. They can be
used by anyone who wants to study them in a controlled environment.
Steve Harris, spam@tamvm1
6 Oct "the scholars working with books in the collections I curate come to
our reading room because the texts they need are *not* available in other
sources.
Elaine Smyth, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisianna
6 Oct "We collect heavily in the history of technology, including heavily
illustrated works, and I doubt that most of them are now available in any
other form...Also, I'm not sure how I'd justify keeping most of my
collection on a variety of topics, if it were "only" a bibliographical
collection.
Philip A. Metzger, Lehigh U., Bethlehem, PA
7 Oct "as a library of American history, the American Antiquarian Society
is dedicated to the preservation of the book both as a reading source of
American history and as a cultural artifact in its own right...The value
of one sosrt of copy does not outweigh the other. If the ONLY copy of
something we had was unopened, and the reader demonstrated a need to see
the contents, then we would have it opened...For modern materials, as the
cataloguer, I usually open any unopened pages when I process the book.
The decision to open or leave unopened mustdepend on the function of the
particular holding institution. Having unopened copies of things in a
public or academic library where the primary use of the materials is for
reading and study of the contents seems a little ridiculous.
Having unopened copies of something in a special collection or library where the
preservation of the book as an artifact is a different story.
S. J. Wolfe, American Antiquarian Society.
This turned out to be longer than I had anticipated. Hopefully, it will
help us in our decision of to open or not to open. A key phrase I
hear is "it must depend on the function of the holding institution."
Back to reading and/or revising the mission statements.
Thanks.
Erma Jean Loveland, Abilene Christian University, Abilene,Texas
LOVELAND@ACUVAX.ACU.EDU