The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 12, March 25, 2007, Article 10

ON THE VALUE OF LIBRARIES

Last week we published the announcement of three mining libraries for
sale by Holabird Americana.  Coincidentally, a March 20th Wall Street
Journal article noted that major corporations are just starting to wake
up to the value of historical information to be found in libraries and
archives.

"For decades, geologist Johan Lavreau has minded a musty maze of African
maps, papers and rocks stored in the bowels of a museum celebrating
Belgium's colonial stewardship of the Congo between 1885 and 1960.

"It was a lonely job. He saw few visitors other than geology students
and academics.

"Now the 63-year-old's archives, beneath the Royal Museum for Central
Africa in a leafy suburb of Brussels, are a hot destination. Clamoring
to pore over the maps: global mining operations hungry for clues about
where to find the Congo's vast riches of copper, cobalt, gold, tin and
other treasures.

"For mining firms, not only is the prospecting a lot easier in a
Belgian basement, it often yields more than geologists find with
the most sophisticated radar and sonar technology.

"The Congo once had copies of the same archives, but most were lost,
looted or destroyed. The country, adds Mr. Lavreau, ground up its rock
samples to make gravel for a parking lot.

"Miners can thank Belgium's King Leopold II, who controlled the Congo
until 1908, for the riches preserved in Tervuren."

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I pointed out the article to Fred Holabird, who writes: "This is very
interesting. It appears to be a wave of the future. In mining, the first
fee library that I know of was in Wyoming (Univ of Wyoming), after the
Anaconda archives were sold or transferred there into their own wing.
The industry at first privately grumbled at paying a fee for access
to files, but gradually got used to it over time.

"I always assumed it was a cheaper form of exploration, but in most
companies, egos are involved, such that exploration targets are those
generated by so-called original thought. For years, small minds ruled
the day, and no one valued old files. But the work force is changing,
because obtaining that information is very costly if it has to be
regathered. Many senior geologists today make a living off of selling
data from their files.

"I have been approached about using my own library on a fee basis. But
I am a bit scared to do anything of the sort, because if some of these
books are damaged, they are not replaceable. Thus a $200 per hour fee
is too cheap if a single very rare printed work is ruined by a careless
researcher breaking a spine, or dropping it on the floor, which could
rip it apart. Or the greasy fingerprint syndrome...

"Anyway, original source material is becoming noticed, finally. Those
of us with libraries of this nature understand what treasures we have,
and value it highly. I use mine every day, and am always searching for
more."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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