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EDITORIAL NOTES PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES IN BRITISH LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES FOR HISTORIANS in search of rare books and manuscripts, the photographic services of our greater libraries are a matter of vital importance; and for libraries the efficient working of these photo- graphic services may be the most effective way of remedying the shortage of space in their reading rooms. If a student wishing to do an edition of a lengthy manuscript is to be prevented from occupying a library seat for months at a time, it is necessary to provide him with microfilm speedily. If the delay is likely to be more than six months (as in the British Museum), he is likely to take up residence in the Students' Room, no matter how expensive or inconvenient he may find it to live in London, and no matter how crowded the Students' Room may be. At the Public Record Office, as is well known, the reading rooms are often full up by 11 a.m., and readers who arrive later have to queue until a seat falls vacant. Many academic bodies have protested about this situation, and have urged the authorities to build more reading rooms. This is probably necessary, but while the financial implications of new buildings are being studied, it might be useful to see if a really quick microfilm service might not ease the situation. If the delay in supplying microfilm could be cut down from four months to one week, the pressure on the reading rooms might be reduced significantly, at little or no cost to the authorities. In this connection it may be noted that in Germany, in order to avoid inter-university loans, students can order Xerox copies of books at a heavily-subsidized rate. In Holland the Dagmar microfilm reader is available with a government subsidy to all students. With considerations such as these in mind, we have made a survey of the photographic services available in some of our major libraries. We have collected information about (i) photographs proper, for reproduction in facsimile; (ii) microfilm; (iii) photocopies and photo- stats; (iv) Xerox copies. (i) Photographs. Photographs vary greatly both in quality and price. We ourselves have paid as much as L3 12s. to a professional photographer (who had to make a special visit to the Record Office in question) and as little as five shillings (at Keele University Library) for prints of first-class quality. The prices quoted below are for one standard size of print (8" x lo"); enlargements of 35 mm. negatives could be cheaper but less satisfactory. 347

PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES IN BRITISH LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

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E D I T O R I A L N O T E S

P H O T O G R A P H I C S E R V I C E S I N B R I T I S H L I B R A R I E S A N D A R C H I V E S

FOR HISTORIANS in search of rare books and manuscripts, the photographic services of our greater libraries are a matter of vital importance; and for libraries the efficient working of these photo- graphic services may be the most effective way of remedying the shortage of space in their reading rooms. If a student wishing to do an edition of a lengthy manuscript is to be prevented from occupying a library seat for months at a time, it is necessary to provide him with microfilm speedily. If the delay is likely to be more than six months (as in the British Museum), he is likely to take up residence in the Students' Room, no matter how expensive or inconvenient he may find it to live in London, and no matter how crowded the Students' Room may be. At the Public Record Office, as is well known, the reading rooms are often full up by 11 a.m., and readers who arrive later have to queue until a seat falls vacant. Many academic bodies have protested about this situation, and have urged the authorities to build more reading rooms. This is probably necessary, but while the financial implications of new buildings are being studied, it might be useful to see if a really quick microfilm service might not ease the situation. If the delay in supplying microfilm could be cut down from four months to one week, the pressure on the reading rooms might be reduced significantly, at little or no cost to the authorities. In this connection it may be noted that in Germany, in order to avoid inter-university loans, students can order Xerox copies of books at a heavily-subsidized rate. In Holland the Dagmar microfilm reader is available with a government subsidy to all students.

With considerations such as these in mind, we have made a survey of the photographic services available in some of our major libraries. We have collected information about (i) photographs proper, for reproduction in facsimile; (ii) microfilm; (iii) photocopies and photo- stats; (iv) Xerox copies.

(i) Photographs. Photographs vary greatly both in quality and price. We ourselves have paid as much as L3 12s. to a professional photographer (who had to make a special visit to the Record Office in question) and as little as five shillings (at Keele University Library) for prints of first-class quality. The prices quoted below are for one standard size of print (8" x lo"); enlargements of 35 mm. negatives could be cheaper but less satisfactory.

347

248 EDITORIAL NOTES

British Museum Public Record Office National Lib. of

Scotland Scottish R.O. National Lib. of

m l e i a n Lib., Oxford Cambridge Univ. Lib. John Rylands Lib.,

Manchester Central

Essex Record Office

Wales

Manchester

Lib.

I

22s. 6d. 25s. 7s.

no service 7s. 6d.

20s. 3d. 18s. 6d.

20s.

4s. 6d.

35-

10. x 8”print from existing negative

5s. 10s.

5s.

p . 6 d . 3s. gd.

4s.

Delay

2 months 6 we& 4 weeks

2-3 weeks

3-4 weeks

2-3 weeks

I week

3-4 weeks

One correspondent makes the point that it would be convenient if libraries would issue printed forms for the ordering of such photo- graphs, so as to prompt the customer into making his instructions complete. If one is ordering photographs of charters, for example, one needs to specify not only the size of print required, and whether it should be glossy or matt, but also whether a scale should be included, whether the background should be light or dark, and whether the seal should be included in the photograph, made its main feature, or omitted and photographed separately.

(ii) Microfilm is the cheapest way of copying a whole book or manuscript, especially if it consists of more than 200 pages (or 100 folios). It is also very small and creates no problem of storage. The disadvantage is that it can only be read through a microfilm ‘reader’. Most large libraries have an adequate number of such ‘readers’-the British Museum has eight and the Bodleian seven-but occasionally one is unlucky and finds them all in use by other people. Many microfilm ‘readers’ are so bulky that it is difficult to find room for one’s notes, let alone for other books which one may be collating. It should also be noted that microfilm can be tiring for the eyes, and cumbersome if one wants to turn frequently from one part of the volume (or roll) to another, as when using an index.

In the following table, prices are expressed as the ‘rate per frame’, a ‘frame’ usually showing two pages (the left and right hand pages of an open book), though in the case of very large pages it may only show one. It will be readily appreciated that the most troublesone part of making a microfilm is getting the volume to the camera. Once this has been done, it is relatively easy to turn the pages and photograph them. In consequence nearly all libraries impose a minimum charge and reduce the rate per frame after the first loo or so frames. The

EDITORIAL NOTES 249 prices listed are for microfilm negative, which is what most people use.

Library or Archive

B.M.

P.R.O. Nat. Lib. Scotland

Scottish R.O.

Nat. Lib. Wales

Bodleian

Cambridge Univ. Lil

John Rylands Ltd.

Manchester Central

Essex Record Office Lib.

Minimum charge

10%.

E4

55.; E5;

35.

10s.

5s.

10s.

7s. 6d.

7s. 6d.

4s-

__I-

Handling charge

5s.

Price per frame or exposure

Up to IOO frames, 6d.; over IOO frames, 5d. 6d. 3 5 4d., or 8d. accord-

ing to difficulty 5d.; 4d. for long runs;

Iod. for records re- quiring special care 6d. up to IOO frames;

4d. over xoo frames 5d. up to IOO frames;

3qd. after IOO frames ’Id. for first 20, 6d. for

21-40, 5d. for 41-60, 4d. for over 60, or 3d. a frame more for parts of pages in varying sizes, etc.

5d. up to IOO frames, 4d. over 100 frames

7s. 6d. for up to 5 ft. (about 40 frames)

4d. up to IOO frames; IOO or more frames EI 6s. 8d. per IOO frames (calculated to nearest 100). One reel (800 frames) EIO

Delq

i g months

4 months 4 weeks

4 days

2-3 weeks

3 weeks

14 days

2-3 weeks

up to 2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Positive microfilm is a ‘good buy’ if, but only if, the library or archive already possesses a negative microfilm of the manuscript required. The British Museum will supply positive microfilm from negatives held by the Department for E3 10s. for a hundred-foot reel, or for 7d. a foot (which is cheaper) with a minimum of 10s. Since about eight frames go to a foot of film, this works out at about $d. per frame. The Public Record Office in London charges L5 for a hundred-foot reel, or 2s. a foot with a minimum of E2. The Scottish Register Office, which in this case gets its work done by the P.R.O. in London, charges Iess-L2 for a hundred-foot reel, or 7d. a foot with a minimum charge of 3s. 6d. The delay is said to be 6-8 weeks. The Essex Record Office charges 10s. for loo frames (minimum) or L3 for a hundred-foot reel.

In cases where the negative has to be bought as well as the positive, it is hard to see the advantage of the latter. But the National Library of Scotland will make positives for an extra gd. a foot, and the Welsh National Library at the rate of E 2 10s. for a hundred-foot reel, with a delay of about one month. The Bodleian charges an extra 34d. an

350 EDITORIAL NOTES

image (about 2s. 4d. a foot) for positives, with a minimum of gos., and the Cambridge University Library 3d. a frame (about 2s. a foot) with a minimum of 7s. 6d.

(iii) Working with photocopies or fihotostats is like working with large photographs. They are often full scale and can usually be had to sizes as big, at any rate, as 20” x 16”. Photocopies can be produced in various ways; in the British Museum they are enlargements made from microfilm on Xerox paper. Photostats are made by projecting the image of the page through a prism and a lens onto sensitized paper. Working with them is like working with full-size negative prints, but the image is very clear, and positive prints can be obtained at extra cost.’ Both photostats and photocopies are bulkier and more expensive than microfilm, but they are a great deal more convenient in cases where one is making an intensive study of a text; one can turn backwards and forwards easily, and compare several pages together. Though more expensive than Xerox copies, they can be made from manuscripts which are too delicate or too tightly bound for use on the Xerox machine; and they are necessary in some places (e.g. the Department of MSS. at the British Museum) where Xerox copies are not supplied.

B.M. (photocopy) P.R.O. (photostat)

Nat. Lib. Scotland (photo- COPY)

Scottwh R.O. (photo- stat)

Nat. Lib. Wales (photo- stat)

Bodleian (photostat) Cambridge Univ. Lib.

John Rylands Lib. (photo-

Manchester Central Lib.

Epsex Record Office

(photostat)

COPY)

(PhOtoCOPY 1 (Phot-PY)

Handling charge cp..

IS. 5s-

Cost for 10“ x 8”

3s. 6d. 10s. (for all sizes up to

IS. 6d. 24# x IF)

3s.

2s. 6d. (for 18” x XI#, and IS. extra for en- largement or reduc- tion)

1s . Iod. 35-

IS. 6d.

IS. 3d.

2s.

Delay

3 months

3-4 weeks

I week

2-3 weeks

14 days

3 weeks 4 d v

2-3 weeks

I day

3-4 we&

(iv) Xerox copies are the ‘best buy’ so far as price and speed of delivery are concerned. They are full-size copies on paper and usually

1 As with microfilm there is no real advantage in having a positive. Some customera are afraid that in a negative photostat the writing would be the wrong way round, but this is not so. because the image is projected through a prism ps well as a leas.

EDITORIAL NOTES 25'

make excellent working copies, though their quality is variable, par- ticularly in the case of old and dirty manuscripts. In the early days of the Xerox machine at the P.R.O., one could get documents copied at a moment's notice while one waited; and this was a great con- venience if, at the end of a day's work, one suddenly discovered a long passage which one wanted to transcribe in full. A difficulty about Xerox is that the size of the document which it can reproduce is limited to about 14" x 10". More important for librarians is the fact that it is hard on the binding of fragile books. This is because books have to be placed on the machine face-downwards, and consequently have to be lifted up every time a page is turned-an operation which, when repeated ad nauseam, may easily lead to manhandling even if no pressure is required to flatten the pages. This is one of the reasons why the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum makes no provision for Xerox copies at all.

Handling yharge per

uol.

B.M. Printed

B.M. Manu-

P.R.O.

Books

scripts

By post Ordered

personally Nat. Lib. Scot-

Scottish R.O. land

By post

Ordered personally

Nat. Lib. Wales

Ebdleian

M a x . sire

Cambridge

John Rylands

Manchester

Essex Record

Univ. Lib. I Lib.

Central Lib.

Office I

'4" x 9"

-

14" x 9''

14" x 9''

14" x 10"

14" x 9''

14" x 9"

13" x 9"

14" x 9"

14" x 9"

- -

L

?rice per print

IS.

-

IS. gd.

IS. gd.

9d.

3s.

IS.

IS.

IS.

IS.

- -

IS.

Mia. charge Delay

.

1-2 days -

2-3

1-3

1-2

same

same J day

same day

same day

day

days

days

days

same

- -

1-2 days

notes

No Xerox

The price i: additional to any in. spection fec incurred

Large orders take longer

Not Oriental 01 illuminated MSS.

I 1

No Xerox

No Xerox

The most striking fact in thc survey is that the photographic service at the British Museum is very much slower than any other. Two months' delay for a photograph may not be excessive when the P.R.O. takes six weeks, but six-nine months for microfilm is intoler-

U

253 EDITORIAL NOTES

able. Curiously enough, the Museum produces photocopies, which are enlargements of microfilm, with less delay than microfilm itself, but even so three months compares unfavourably with two-three weeks, which is the longest delay experienced elsewhere. In addition, we have to record that our correspondents were clearly less satisfied with the quality of the work done by the Museum than they were with the quality of the work done by the P.R.O. We axe full of sympathy for the Trustees of the Museum in their struggle to acquire more space. We realize that they already employ seventy-five photo- graphic operators-though this is in a centralized service for the Museum as a whole-and that the amount of microfilm supplied in 1965 was z ,7q , i io ‘frames’, as compared with 148,110 ‘frames’ in 1955. But we hope that they will not use these facts as arguments for letting the situation deteriorate still further. The existing situation is already a scandal, and drastic measures must be taken to remedy it.

What can be done? In the first place we (regretfully) admit that one of the reasons for the enormous number of orders for microfilm is that it is so cheap. It is nice to imagine that most of the orders received are placed by penniless scholars, but this is not the case. Some of the orders received are almost astronomical in size and are placed by foreign libraries or (we suspect) commercial firms. Of course it is desirable for the photographic service to have a good deal of this ‘project work‘ so that it can maintain production at a steady level, but it could surely do something to regulate this level by changes in its price-structure. At a time when the British Museum is being starved of money by the government, it seems only right that it should be allowed to earn money for itself by making a profit on its photographic service, especially if the Trustees were thereby induced to make the photographic survey more efficient.

We would suggest in particular that the photographic service should initiate an express service which should supply photographs or microfilm in one week, at double the normal cost. We would also suggest that since orders by post create considerably more work than orders placed by readers personally, there should be a surcharge for orders made by post. And while the present backlog persists, we think that there should be no reduction in the price of microfilm after the first 100 frames.

In return, we think that the British Museum should install more microfilm cameras; even one extra camera would increase the output by about 1000 ‘frames’ a day. We also believe that a Xerox machine should be installed in the Department of Manuscripts. This would reduce the orders for microfilm and photocopy considerably, and could be operated without much difficulty if the example of the Scottish R.O. were followed, so that it was cheapest for the reader to place orders personally with the manuscript to hand. (In this way it would be easy for the official to identify the passage required, and

EDITORIAL NOTES 253 to see if the manuscript was suitable for Xerox.) Last, but not least, we believe that the Trustees should investigate whether the Museum’s photographic service might not benefit from a measure of decentral- ization. From tales that we have heard, it seems that its present organization is unwieldy, and the figures we have quoted suggest that the Library and Department of Manuscripts could both provide enough work for photographic services of their own.

One final point. Many large libraries have a considerable stock of microfilm or photographic facsimiles of manuscripts. We think that a central catalogue of these would be a great boon to students. T h e Bodleian Library has made a very useful beginning and now has five drawers-full of card index, which cover not only the Bodleian’s own resources but many other libraries also. Thus it can be discovered that a microfilm of a Cambridge manuscript can be found in Edinburgh University Library, and of a Berlin manuscript in London University Library. The Keeper of the Western Manuscripts stresses that this catalogue is far from being comprehensive, but he will gladly answer any questions sent to him, and gladly receive further information from other libraries or collections.

Note: The information in this survey was correct at January 1968