Peter Briscoe

The novel Between Memory and Oblivion is more than a noting of the passing in importance of reading, literature and printed books in modern culture. One implied question is suggested and that is: Will the transference of the physical book to data save enough for our collective memory? Can we gauge accurately how much we are losing until it is too late? Does dependence on data have its destructive side? This conversation is lead by Michael Ashe, a rare-book salesman whose clients include show more large state universities. For “serious” readers this is a worthy if troubling read.

Quotes: (page 27) “Their rich fonds remained fundamental for whole domain of scholarship, history, literature, philosophy, science, and art. Their bookshops, so deceptively restrained, often had back rooms extending through entire blocks in the oldest parts of Paris, down into basements and up to second stories. They were veritable treasuries. The ordinary book hunter never saw any of this, of course, was never permitted to step foot into the sanctum sanctorum of bibliographical greatness. These men testified as expert witnesses in courts of law. The sales catalogues they issued possessed such authority and erudition that discerning collectors and librarians kept them for reference.”

(pages 73-74) “There are laws intended to stop it, to protect cultural patrimony. But even a person of great rectitude must occasionally wonder at the ironies of history and circumstance. For example, there is no question that many highly important documents found in the collections of American and European research libraries would no longer exist had they not been stolen and transported to a safer place. Warfare, neglect, moisture, rats, or fire would have consumed them in their home-land.”

(page 106) “'True but something has gone awry in Libraryland...The modern librarian is basically a shill for the Info Industry. It's a shame that tax and tuition payers still have to bear the cost of their salaries, which more properly should be paid by their corporate masters. The so-called business and contract negotiations with predatory electronic publishers for obscenely expensive databases, electronic journals, and e-books are little more than mating rituals.'” show less

A collection of three succinct essays on what it means to be a librarian, not only in today's highly technical world, but always. There are some principles, most notably promoting the act of reading, that need to be reclaimed by librarians - both for themselves and their patrons. A very thoughtful and inspiring work for this librarian.