PaleoNet: [EXTERN] Re: Downsizing

Wed Apr 3 15:49:33 UTC 2024

Interesting problem... I'm wondering what I should do to preserve mine....

Not terribly large (300+ gigs) ... accumulated over the last 35+ 
years... mostly on the paleontology of the Western Interior Seaway....

Safe for now... but after I'm gone... who cares?

Mike Everhart

> "Downsizing is hard"
>
>
> Dear paleonetters
>
> I experience similar things, and also see similar things happen with 
> colleagues' hand libraries.
>
>
> Just few months before retirement I accumulated quite some volume of a 
> personal hand library in my field of expertise, over decades.
>
> It not only has a number of literature that is virtually difficult to 
> obtain today (often it took considerable effort to find out, collect) 
> but as a whole reflects the development of my research 
> interests/activity over long time.
>
>
> OK, so what?:
>
>
> Preserving hand/working libraries of individual researchers 
> (professors, researchers) may become especially important if one 
> curates research collections of experts if one wishes to follow 
> changes in collection concepts or even the development of scientific 
> hypotheses and their "solutions" in context of a scientific legacy. 
> Hand libraries are far more than just a pile of papers and xerox 
> copies. Often they include connected correspondence about a scientific 
> content. Sometimes, xeroxed copies from articles in hand libraries - 
> while still available electronically - contain the author's comments 
> and scribbles while she/he was reading the paper, and so provide 
> valuable opinions or critiques or alternatives that reviewers perhaps 
> have overlooked. Hand libraries include unpublished (but valuable) 
> research data sets and observations, protocols to experiments (even if 
> experiments failed) and details to old techniques and methods. Such 
> protocols may sometimes be more precise and more to the detail than in 
> method's sections of published articles (because in older literature 
> methodology sections were of less interest or had sometimes to be 
> shortened on "command" of reviewers). Hand libraries may contain 
> fotographs, notes and sketches of ideas that were never further 
> followed or realized, or just contain documents of historic interest. 
> Even collections of obituaries within a research area give an idea 
> about a person's ancient scientific network, which can be extremely 
> interesting for following up changes in scientific concepts (e.g., who 
> is working with whom ? Who shares the same ideas with whom ? What team 
> or school followed a different concept ?). Portions of a hand library 
> may inform about the history of an entire discipline, industry branch, 
> societal developments, or changes in climatic conditions of a 
> geographic region where the person once had worked. Usually, hand 
> libraries are organized by their creators, either using an electronic 
> tool or an analogue cardfile system. These are the key to a hand 
> library to spot a research topic or article/file relatively quickly. 
> Thus, hand libraries are searchable and may help to recognize the 
> researcher's thread of thought.
>
> I just experienced all these things during my own previous curatorial 
> work in micropaleo collections and especially while using an important 
> archive and legacy on the Geology of Trinidad.
>
>
> Unfortunately not every librarian is recognizing (can't recognize 
> because its outside of their expertise) the value/importance of 
> extended hand libraries and so do not put the necessary care and 
> effort to merge orphaned hand libraries into a manageable system 
> (which of course costs man power). The result is, that valuable 
> literature collections, or blocs of them is discarded or becomes 
> disentangled (and so loosing internal links and context) and then 
> given as isolates to antiquariats. Even duplicates or triplicates of 
> books, if available, are worth not to be discarded because there will 
> come the day when only a single volume is available and then perhaps 
> may be in a bad physical condition because the paper is altering and 
> decaying. It is not seldom, that discarding hand libraries seems the 
> cheaper and more satisfactory solution than keeping them organized for 
> future researchers (seen so in universities and even in museums). But 
> that is a fatal error ! We all are aware that electronic archival is 
> not durable and so is no ultimate solution. Who in 200 years will be 
> able to decipher our current pdfs and Microsoft's formats ? In 
> contrast, ancient egyptian papyrus has survived thousands of years 
> (under dry desert conditions...)
>
> In my opinion not taking care about hand libraries of researchers 
> is loss of science! (not to forget the amount of funding money and 
> personal efforts that once had to be raised to carry out all the 
> research).
>
>
> It is sometimes also the attitude of younger scientists that 
> everything older than about 1986-1990 (in about the period when pdf's 
> raised to be common) is useless as everything older is out of interest 
> and new and important are available in electronic format. What a 
> misconception ! Many questions sparkling around in old science books 
> have not scientifically been solved yet; taking them up in a modified 
> perspective old ideas may lead to vibrating new research by using 
> newest technologies. Sometimes, one may get a clue from older 
> literature or hand libraries why some ideas/concepts were once 
> followed while others remained in the drawers (these were not always 
> reasons by logical scientific thinking but had sometimes to do with 
> the power of individual experts).
>
>
> I am just disappointed seeing that there is so little interest in 
> keeping blocks of hand libraries of individuals.
>
> They are often the "brain" and source of brilliant ideas to the 
> scientific legacy of a researcher, even if it was not Charles Darwin.
>
>
> More care and thoughts should be given on that matter.
>
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> PD Dr. Michael Knappertsbusch
> Curator for micropaleontology
> Natural History Museum Basel
> West-European Micropaleontological Reference Center for the DSDP/ODP/IODP
> Augustinergasse 2
> 4001-Basel
> Switzerland
>
> Tel. +41-61-266 55 64
> Fax. +41-61-266 55 46
>
> Email: michael.knappertsbusch at unibas.ch
> Internet: http://micropal-basel.unibas.ch
> Homepage Museum: http://www.nmbs.ch
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Von:* PaleoNet <paleonet-bounces at lists.paleonet.org> im Auftrag von 
> Tony Wright via PaleoNet <paleonet at lists.paleonet.org>
> *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 3. April 2024 03:58:20
> *An:* 'A communications system for paleontologists.'
> *Cc:* Tony Wright
> *Betreff:* [EXTERN] Re: PaleoNet: Downsizing
>
> Hi John,
>
> Good to hear from your message and /Nomen nudum/ that you are still in 
> the land of the living. Your message is very interesting!
>
> I have a query for you about personal libraries. Given the reluctance 
> of institutional libraries in general to find space, resources and 
> general interest in absorbing these libraries (for instance, see the 
> fate of the Dorothy Hill/UQ departmental library) have you seen this 
> problem discussed anywhere? What has happened with GA folk in recent 
> years? I know that Des and Barry Webby passed on stuff to Londonderry 
> (and so have I, but only largely unwanted stuff), but this must be a 
> general problem, Like you I have spent a lot of $ collecting stuff and 
> I have lots of the usual freebies which are now unobtainable.
>
> Just a continuing thought.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Tony
>
> *From:*PaleoNet [mailto:paleonet-bounces at lists.paleonet.org] *On 
> Behalf Of *John Laurie via PaleoNet
> *Sent:* Tuesday, 2 April 2024 11:25 PM
> *To:* A communications system for paleontologists.
> *Cc:* John Laurie
> *Subject:* PaleoNet: Downsizing
>
> Paleonetters,
>
> Downsizing is hard.
>
> https://blotreport.com/2024/03/31/old-friends/
>
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