[Genealib] Author's request to pull title from shelf and return

[Don Litzer]

You really have two questions: the first being what your institution's policy is on dealing with donations for which an investment has already been made to add them to your collection (presumably this is a donation--if you bought the book, why return it to him?), and the second being whether you can rationalize that action as a collection development decision.

Addressing the second question: the original work, flawed as it may be, represents how history was best interpreted at a given point in time.  If another researcher cites that particular work for his/her genealogy, and that original edition is no longer available to be verified at a later date, a disservice has been done, because there's no way of knowing how the "new-and-improved" version has changed history, or at least our view of it.  If you don't have room for every edition and/or don't want to antagonize a patron, those are separate issues--but  I would at least remind the author that every edition of a family history has enduring value, and libraries exist to preserve that value.

Don Litzer
Reference Librarian, The Genealogy Center
Allen County Public Library
900 Library Plaza
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46802
e-mail: dlitzer at acpl.info
phone (reference desk): 260.421.1225


>>> Susan.Scouras at wvculture.org 10/14/2008 9:18 AM >>>
I received a new family history title from the author.  He requested
that we pull his previous family history from the shelf and return it to
him because the book had too many errors.  Although the title is
different, the new book is supposed to be an updated and corrected
version of the first.  What would you do?
 
Susan Scouras
Librarian
WV Archives and History Library
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
Charleston, WV  25305-0300
(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742