Re: arsclist record archive

["Steven Smolian" <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>]

And how much will this cost, and how many of the LPs will be completely
unsalable?

I typically buy such collections at auction at $ 30-100 per thousand LPs and
deposit 90% of them in the dumpster.  Bought 1,000 last night for $ 32.50.
No one cares enough to pay the $ 3.00 per disc minimum I have to charge in
my mall space for most of them, and I have no intention of creating the
world's largest vinyl and shellac pyramid in Frederick.  I keep what I think
I can resell only.

Note that taking book boxes of records to auction or goodwill uses up a $
1.00 box plus gas and my time.  It just ain't woith it.

Even in perfect condition, classical collections almost always include late
Vox pressings, west coast Everests, MHS, Nonesuch, late Victors, monos of
things that came in stereo, etc.  The 78s almost always include mostly discs
of white people's pop music from the war years and after, easy listening and
other rhythmically spineless selections which simply do not sell.   And
similar quantities of rock, pop, country, soul, disco, most 70s and 80s that
is not far enough out, all break down the same way.  There are almost always
accumulatuions, not structured collections. I keep 5-15% of these lots,
seldom more.

I consider these the leaves on the ears of corn and discard them without the
slightest twinge of concience.

Which brings us to this misc. collection where cataloging is contemplated.
You may, as a result of your cataloging, identify the records well enough to
sell a few items at a premium.  Weigh that against the minumum wage value of
the time you've spent cataloging.

Of course, if you need a hobby....

That terrible person,

Steve Smolian


=========================
Steven Smolian    301-694-5134
Smolian Sound Studios
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Five or one or lifetime hoardings,
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at www.soundsaver.com
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----- Original Message -----
From: "John Ross" <johnross@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: arsclist record archive


> It certainly won't include "every LP ever made", but it seems likely that
> the OCLC database used by library catalogers might have a very large
> proportion of them. It's a common online catalog that includes entries for
> a huge number of books, documents and other items, including phonorecords.
>
> Bruno, the cataloging specialists at your university's library probably
> already have access to OCLC or will know how to get access for you. Or
> failing that, it has been my experience that the OCLC staff are extremely
> helpful and quite willing to lead non-librarians through the necessary
> steps toward using the resource. Their Web site is at www.oclc.org.
>
> John Ross
> Northwest Folklife
> Seattle, Washington USA
>
> At 03:28 PM 12/10/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >As I understood the post, Mr. Weber was looking for a data archive...as
it
> >turned out, on LP records...with the intention of copying data records on
> >phonorecords he (or his institution) holds, which would reduce the amount
> >of data entry needed to catalog the holdings. As I see it, much of the
point
> >of collections, particularly institutional collections, is to keep an
> >adequate
> >and current catalog of the holdings; first, so that the collector
> >(individual
> >or institutional) knows exactly what they do (and don't) own, to avoid
> >duplicate acquisitions, and, second, because many users (in the case of
> >institutional collections) are looking for the information rather than
the
> >actual sound contents of the recordings. The alternative..."oh, if we
have
> >it it's somewhere in that stuff on those shelves over there..." seems an
> >illogical way to run a library (and possibly a personal collection?).
>
>
> -
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> http://www.arsc-audio.org/arsclist.html
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> from the author of the post.
>

-
For subscription instructions, see the ARSC home page
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Copyright of individual posting is owned by the author of the posting and
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