Re: [ARSCLIST] Vinyl use and access policies

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Seubert" <seubert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Lisa, We had a policy of making CD access copies for patrons using the 
> LPs here in Special Collections. We changed this policy a couple of 
> years ago and now patrons handle and play LPs for themselves. All 
> library (and archival) materials suffer minor wear or damage during use, 
> but you need to weigh the pros and cons of convenient access and staff 
> time against the rarity and fragility of materials. LPs are not unique, 
> they are durable, they will suffer minimal wear with properly maintained 
> equipment, few are truly rare as far as the musical content is 
> concerned, and there is a large market of inexpensive LPs out there if 
> something is damaged. We found that it just took too much staff time to 
> make access copies, so we quit making them. We now have a turntable in a 
> listening room with headphones.
> The staff time that was formerly spent making access copies is now spent 
> making preservation and access copies of things that are rare and need 
> to be preserved such as open reel tape, cassettes and lacquer discs. 
> There is no right or wrong policy here, but you should examine your 
> priorities and goals as a whole. Doing right by one part of the 
> collection can often mean neglecting an even bigger problem elsewhere.
> David Seubert
> UCSB
> 
Noting the "UCSB" in the signature...aren't you the folks who put the
fantastic (and much-used) cylinder sound files on the Internet?

Wouldn't it be equally possible to do the same thing using a
(very) limited-access intranet, accessible only from certain
computers in your library and containing the library's archive
of sound recordings?

Just wondering...

Steven C. Barr