Duplicate Sales

[jefbarr@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (Jeffrey Barr)]

Well, my goodness! I certainly did not expect to stir up such responses with
what I thought was a rather innocent posting. In the responses, I believe
one point was overlooked by potential donors, but certainly not by the
librarians. We are talking about DUPLICATES. A George Washington letter is
not a duplicate. An inscribed annotated, signed binding, second printing
state, etc, is not a duplicate.

Out-of-area materials are a different issue and raises the delicate matter
of donor/library relations. There is no question about donors being of
critical importance to special collections. As librarians, we are extremely
grateful to donors who wish to make their collections available to
researchers and further the unending task of scholarship. A large quantity
of very fine books exists in the UF special collections only through
donations of books or endowments to purchase books. But, I do believe that
the donors have had, and hopefully will have, an interest in the
institution. If I receive a volume that is already in the collection and is
a complete duplicate (I find many reasons to not call a book a duplicate) or
is completely out of field, it is made clear to the donor that we will sell
or exchange the volume for something more appropriate and that the donor
will be acknowledged as the source of the new acquisition. A library is a
functional research institution. Without this function, we would not last
very long as a line item in the budget and we would not be doing service to
scholarship. I do not mean to offend anyone, but a library is not a
mausoleum, despite the brass plaques attached to the door, the chairs, the
tables, the lamps, etc.

I am a bit dismayed that my point about the provenance of a book over the
centuries appears to have drawn no comment. Collections are brought together
and they are dispersed. This existence over time is part of the patina of a
book. I have an incunabulum that contains a note on its provenance by
Gilbert Redgrave. It passed through a number of hands before it came here,
some very interesting, including Mr. Redgrave's. Nice book. Will it be here
forever? I don't know, but I do know that short of some calamity, it has a
good chance of survivng another 500 years, whether or not it is here, and
long after I am forgotten dust.

Jeffrey A. Barr
Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian
Smathers Library East
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-0321