Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloguing still :-)--was: Cataloguing again--ARSC responsibility?

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/09/06, steven c wrote:

>> I checked out a couple of Google's PDFs.
>> 
>> One is Jerrold's "Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures". This has been
>> scanned
>> from a good copy and is presented as a collection of bitmap images -
>> if
>> you wanted a text file, you would have to OCR the images yourself.
>> 
>> The resolution of the bitmaps is enough for reading the text, but
>> nowhere near high enough to reproduce the illustrations (wood
>> engravings) accurately. As I am interested in the history of
>> illustration, this would not be useful for research.
>> 
>> As with master tapes, there is a need to preserve the original
>> objects.
>> Lossy copies are not enough.
>> 
> Worse yet, the .pdf format requires a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader
> (admittedly
> downloadable for free if you go looking) in a version equal to or
> newer than the one used to create the file...

Yes, I had to hunt to find a computer that could display it.

> and you CAN'T use "Edit,
> Copy" to save the piece you were looking for, because a .pdf is just a
> PICTURE of text...not text! This means you have to save the entire
> .pdf on your HD, use Acrobat Reader to access it and manually copy the
> text you are interested in! 

Or OCR the image. 


> This is something like making sound
> recordings available in a proprietary format with limited fidelity...
> 
>> And how about those who are researching the history of printing, or
>> of book-binding?
>> 
>> 
>> If the University is purely a teaching institution, with no
>> research,
>> then none of this matters - although I don't think such a place can
>> really be called a university.
>> 
> Teaching, by definition, implies research! I was told many times, as
> I passed though university, "We aren't teaching you facts...we are
> teaching you how to ACCESS facts, since that is the skill you will
> need in the real world!" When an instructor assigns a 40-page
> paper, he isn't trying to teach you the paper's underlying facts...
> he/she/it is teaching you the skill of COLLECTING that data (as well
> as using it to form/justify your own ideas in coherent form)!

However, the level of research in a teaching-only institution can be
confined to digging up already published information. By research, I
meant digging out things that nobody knows now.

> 
> A REAL student (here I disqualify the vast number who attend
> institutions of higher learning only to attain "a degree in <X>" so
> they can obtain higher-paying employment with a higher social status,
> and usually manage to avoid learning anything except where "the party"
> is at...) is actually eager to learn both information (the mind can
> only hold so much of that) and how one accesses that information when
> needed!
> 
> Too many post-secondary schools today specialize in providing what
> most of their clientele THINK they want...a nice, expensive,
> impressive document written in Latin which will (in theory) open the
> door to an extremely well-paid position where the mere prospect of
> manual labour is anathema. In fact, in these institutions, it is
> possible to graduate with a "Gentleman's 'C'" without actually having
> learned SFA!! However...there exist a sufficiency (or more) of beer
> joints close to campus...plenty of fraternities and sororities which
> hold regular (and legendary) bachanaals (sp?)...and readily available
> student parking!
> 
> In fact, I pleasantly surprised a number of my university instructors
> by not only asking coherent questions (usually after class)...but also
> stating publicly that I was there to learn what the course/instructor
> was supposed to teach...
> 
> (Side Note: When I returned to Illinois State to resume work on my
> teaching degree, the course had been completely "re-jiggered" in a
> way that meant it would take me 3-1/2 school years to complete the
> course [not "courseS"...that was the gist of the change!] which
> left me with 10 to 12 semester-hours per term to take whatever
> I dommed well felt like...my attitude was, "Well, I'm paying to
> learn stuff...I better learn as much as I possibly can! It won't
> cost me any more...!")
> 
> Steven C. Barr
> 
Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx