I have a couple of comments that take a somewhat pessimistic view on Linda's email:
- Linda writes: "the research community has a responsibility...". My questions: does the research community agree that they have this responsibility? Is this role one that they have agreed to take on for the betterment of Judaica scholarship? Or, is it being (willingly or unwillingly) assigned to them because smaller institutions don't have the resources? Just because something is desirable to a group of people doesn't make it feasible, affordable, and in the interests of the people who have to do the work. Note: ASU has clearly agreed to take on this responsibility - see other emails in this series. What about the other research institutions? - Also, Linda's first sentence asserts "there is a need for a historical collection...". The discussion of the past several questions that assertion. If there's such a need, where has financial support (from either the Jewish community or the library community) been for the past 50+ years? After all, Jewish children's books didn't all just age in 2004; they have been going in and out of print for decades. Money exists to build museums, JCCs, synagogues and all sorts of other Jewish institutions -- why hasn't a historical Judaica children's collection ever been funded? Allow me to suggest that just maybe, a need has not been recognized by the community. The person who compared this question (children's books) with the National Yiddish Book Center was *exactly* correct. NYBC was created by Lansky saying "Here is a problem and here is my solution". And he built it, conceptually, himself, until he could attract community (defined broadly) support. Don't wait for someone else to provide a Jewish Children's Book Center -- if there's truly a need, then start it and make it work. Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
