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SAA Council's Response to Nicholson Baker's Double Fold
In the
May/June 2001 issue of Archival Outlook, Richard Cox has provided
an excellent overview of Nicholson Baker's book, Double Fold. Council
agrees with the overall tone of Richard Cox's overview and response, and
especially endorses the following major points:
- Baker's
conclusions are based on a flawed analysis. The fundamental weakness
of Baker's argument is his belief, more implicit than explicit, that
everything can and must be saved in its original state.
Archivists know that our responsibility to society and our employing
institutions is to be selective about what is saved.
- To keep
both the originals and copies, as Baker suggests, is not possible due
to the competing priorities and limited resources facing every library
and archives.
- Baker's
conspiratorial view of the library community's campaign to convey the
urgency of preservation needs to the public, along with the implication
that the campaign contained lies and concealed evidence of misdeeds,
is entirely unfounded.
- Baker
appears to be an individual who loves libraries but does not understand
them. He also does not seem to understand the difference between libraries
and archives.
- Although
Baker's analysis is flawed, he does raise a number of points which deserve
debate and a response from the archives and library communities, in
particular the need to:
— re-evaluate the original analyses of
the condition of paper;
— factor
in the needs of users and the preservation of our documentary heritage;
— redefine
the education of librarians, archivists and preservation administrators;
— explain
that we are in the selecting, not warehousing, business; and
— re-evaluate
the costs associated with preservation and reformatting.
The
Council of the Society of American Archivists, May 7, 2001
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