A plan by Southport, CT’s Pequot Library to sell a portion of its rare books collection to raise funds has met with stiff resistance from donors and residents:
This collection is replete with riches – a 1493 book by Christopher Columbus describing his journey to the New World, a writ from a Salem witch trial judge, and letters by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and every signer of the Declaration of Independence. But for more than 50 years, most of it has been housed at Yale, where it was moved to be stored and professionally catalogued when the library was having financial difficulties.
Now Pequot officials say that in an effort to improve their overall holdings, they want to sell part of the collection and bring the rest back to Southport. And their plan has met unexpected opposition from a descendant of [donor Mary] Wakeman and some local residents and library supporters.
Complete article (New York Times – registration required).
Previous discussion
On this same debate, last Friday, here.
All Locked Up
I read last Friday’s discussion on this topic too…. While I understand the reason that rare books have to be protected…there needs to be a balance between protecting and providing access… Too often well meaning “keepers of the treasure” won’t allow anyone access for any reason or have policies that discourage any but the most persistent…or the most obsessive of thieves.
If it’s locked up and no one can see or use it or even know it exists…the item has no value…except as a commodity to be sold from one “book jailer” to the next.
Digitize it, put it on the web, let everyone have a look at it and benefit from it. Keep the
original in a prison where no one but “the keeper” can see it if you must. Lock it away, and it’s looses all value to knowledge seekers.
They should be ashamed!
These rare books, once sold, cannot be replaced. They are invaluable to the community and should not be sold off so easily. They should be ashamed!