Electronic media in books

Regina A. Sinclair <regina-sinclair [at] uiowa__edu> writes

>One group views not handling media separately as an invitation to
>theft while other sees doing so as an affront to user access.

When I was a lad, our library simply placed a big red sticker on the
spine, and a note inside, and the librarian counted the fiches or
audio cassettes on return. Mildly tedious for the librarian, but a
reasonable way to go.

Of course, such media are more easily ruined by damage than books,
and less obviously to the eye.

Here, our University library separates and catalogues separately
microfiches etc. The book may be borrowable, but the media are not,
i.e., they are to be viewed in the appropriately equipped reading
room. This is barely inconvenient, as most of us don't have fiche
readers at home. (And a few years from now, we may have to go to a
museum to use a CD). It also, especially with software CDs, keeps
half an eye on copyright infringement.

Mark Clarke
Cambridge
+44 1223 354520

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:17
                 Distributed: Thursday, August 26, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-17-002
                                  ***