Robert, I know irridiation takes a while but I have
had a package sent to the Copyright Office in D.C. on
December 11,2001, Certified Mail with a Return Receipt
Requested and have not been able to find out where it
is yet. The Certified Receipt Number can tell you if
it has been picked up but so far the Computer does not
show anything. I am really disappointed. Someone
told me that they might send it to Ohio to be
irridated then on to destination. I am sure all of
this is really not sitting well with the public.
Joe
--- Library <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Robert--
>
> Thank you for an informative post. I had NO idea
> that irridiation caused
> such damage. Have you contacted LC's preservation
> gurus?
>
> My alma mater would probably strip my MLS if they
> knew, but I quit binding
> materials years ago. If it's available online or if
> it's merely
> time-sensitive, I don't spend the money.
>
> We are a "zero growth" library so we only keep
> general periodicals for a
> pre-determined amount of time. Our weeding record
> file has entries such as:
> "3 years," or "2 Princeton files," or "6 in." Zero
> growth makes our
> collection somewhat schizophrenic because we have
> the old bound materials
> from the '30s thru the late '70s and the unbound
> current materials.
>
> OTOH, we're primarily a law library so statute and
> code books are replaced
> over time as a part of each subscription.
>
> Some bound works are difficult to use. For example,
> my predecessors bound
> legislative histories they compiled in-house from
> source documents. Those
> volumes are virtually impossible to use because
> thick pamphets of different
> sizes are held in a in a single volume. I compile
> legislative histories in
> file folders and trust that readers will take care
> of them. Touch wood: so
> far so good (and I've been doing this 21 years).
>
>
> Kay Collins, Head Librarian, US Railroad Retirement
> Board, Chicago
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mohrman, Robert J WRAMC-Wash DC
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 2:41 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Irradiation of the mail: damage to journal
> issues
>
>
> I'd like to ask if anyone in the Federal Library
> world is addressing the
> issue of the damage that
> irradiation of mail does to print products. The
> mail we receive here at the
> Walter Reed Army
> Medical Center is being irradiated, and while I
> understand the rationale for
> doing it, it is very
> damaging to a paper product. Envelopes and their
> contents become very
> brittle; the plastic windows
> in envelopes are shriveled, stuck to the contents of
> the envelope, or vanish
> entirely. Self-adhesive
> labels fall off the envelopes. The effect on white
> paper is quite
> pronounced: it is visibly yellowed,
> as if exposed to sunlight for a very long period of
> time.
>
> What distresses me most is that this is being done
> to library materials as
> well, and the same damage
> is evident. The glue in the binding of one journal
> issue I looked at today
> is almost entirely melted
> away, and once again, the paper is brittle. The ink
> from the bar codes on
> the outside of two books
> that were mailed back to us by a patron had
> disappeared entirely (I didn't
> notice any real damage
> to the pages, but who knows).
>
> I'm not sure who to complain to about this. We are
> paying a lot of money
> for our print subscriptions,
> which we bind when volumes are complete,
> theoretically for posterity. With
> the damage that this
> prophylactic irradiation is doing to our journals,
> we need to seriously
> reconsider this time-honored
> practice of archiving information. I'm also
> concerned about mailing books
> for interlibrary loan; what
> kind of damage is this causing, and who will be
> ultimately responsible?
> I've done some quick and
> dirty searches of the Internet using Google, but I
> haven't come across
> anything on this subject. The
> US Postal Service web site discusses irradiation of
> the mail, but they don't
> address this issue, either.
>
> Comments?
>
> Robert Mohrman
> Acting Chief, Medical Library
> Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)
> 6900 Georgia Ave NW
> Washington DC 20307-5001
> (202)782-6547; fax (202)782-6803
> [log in to unmask]
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