<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:odc="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:odc" xmlns:oa="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:rtc="http://microsoft.com/officenet/conferencing" xmlns:D="DAV:" xmlns:Repl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/repl/" xmlns:mt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/meetings/" xmlns:x2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ppda="http://www.passport.com/NameSpace.xsd" xmlns:ois="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sub="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/2002/1/alerts/" xmlns:ec="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#" xmlns:sp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" xmlns:sps="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcs="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/soap" xmlns:udcxf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:udcp2p="http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/parttopart" xmlns:wf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:dsss="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig-setup" xmlns:dssi="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig" xmlns:mdssi="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/digital-signature" xmlns:mver="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" xmlns:spwp="http://microsoft.com/sharepoint/webpartpages" xmlns:ex12t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" xmlns:pptsl="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/SlideLibrary/" xmlns:spsl="http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/PublishedLinksService" xmlns:Z="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" xmlns:st="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>When I read in
<i>The Washington Post</i> the review of the exhibition at the Folger, <i>The
Curatorial Eye</i>, I thought that it was distinguished, like so much that the reviewer,
Philip Kennicott, writes, by slovenly research, flat-out ignorance, pseudo-intellectuality,
and unwarranted leaping to generalization. Here is another extract in illustration:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='background:white'>Are meticulously decorated, hand-colored drawings
of famous 19th-century Shakespearean actors interesting? Absolutely, if only
for their suggestion of Shakespeare's power in an earlier age, and a nascent
star-craziness that predates our celebrity culture. These colorful oddities are
uncannily similar to a notebook made by a Romanian schoolgirl in the 1950s,
which has hand-drawn pictures of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. There's a
connection here you would not likely find in any digital catalogue. It's as if
a thoroughly naive, 19th-century sense of Shakespeare -- the Shakespeare of
Charles and Mary Lamb, who recast the plays as children's storybook tales --
was implanted intact, behind the Iron Curtain, in one of Eastern Europe's most
brutal countries. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>In addition,
the review was guilty of tardiness in that the exhibition closes a mere week
after the review was published.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Nevertheless,
one point was well taken (to rephrase a kernel of a thought in the extract that
Deborah quoted) -- that rare book cataloguers should be circumspect about
subject cataloguing. But rare book catalogers have long exercised such caution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To continue savaging
<i>The Washington Post</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The review
has the flimsy quality worthy of a blog posting, like so much that the newspaper
publishes (newspaper publishing, another “dying art,” to use the reviewers’
term). For instance, we recently were treated to an article on two persons who had
been tinged with scandal, Jason Blair and Linda Tripp, which invaded their privacy
by detailing their after-life and offended readers’ sensibilities by
resurrecting these two personalities, long, blessedly, and deservedly out of the
pubic eye. If some cannot now identify Jason Blair and Linda Tripp: GOOD.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>As for
worthiness, the Folger exhibition eminently deserves the audio tour that Deborah
cited.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>(Launched in
ill humor Saturday morning before coffee, worthy of a blog posting.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Donald
Farren<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>4009
Bradley Lane<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chevy
Chase, MD 20815-5238<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="mailto:dfarren@concentric.net"><span style='color:blue'>dfarren@concentric.net</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>voice
301.951.9479<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>fax
301.951.3898<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>cellular
301.768.8972<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu
[mailto:dcrm-l-bounces@lib.byu.edu] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Deborah J. Leslie<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 21, 2009 7:35 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> DCRM Revision Group List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [DCRM-L] "Old art of cataloguing"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>The following is an excerpt of the <i>Washington
post</i> review of the Folger’s current exhibit. Put together on an
emergency basis (we <i>thought</i> the exhibit hall would be closed this summer
for maintenance, now deferred), The Curatorial Eye features previously
unexhibited personal selections of about 15 Folger Central Library curators,
conservators, catalogers, and public services staff. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>It’s a really interesting
exhibition, and I think a really successful one. It has an online
incarnation, in which selected items are accompanied by short recordings of
their respective curators. Audio tour:
http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=3230<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>And now, for the review excerpt:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.0in'>Today, readers can delve digitally
into millions of books to find quick hits on what interests them. The old
process of cataloguing a book, which meant summarizing its contents in a way
that anticipated how future scholars might search for the interesting, is a
dying art. It required an act of reduction, an act of exclusion -- this
matters, the rest doesn't -- that defined that book's importance within a canon
of knowledge. <span style='color:#1F497D'><a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082003860.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082003860.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Discuss.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>__________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Deborah
J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>RBMS
chair 2009-2010 | Head of Cataloging, Folger Shakespeare Library<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>201
East Capitol St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003 | 202.675-0369 (phone)
202.675-0328 (fax) | djleslie@folger.edu |www.folger.edu<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>