----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 92 20:56:36 -0400
From: tale@uunet.uu.net (David C Lawrence)
To: "Stevan Harnad" <harnad@Princeton.EDU>
Cc: "Publishing E-Journals : Publishing, Archiving, and Access"
 <VPIEJ-L@VTVM1.BITNET>

 > > Chuck Bacon [crtb@HELIX.NIH.GOV] wrote:
 > >
 > > >>"Usenet is an anarchic system for remote access to all kinds of rapidly
 > > >>changing data. It was not designed for archival use. There is almost
 > > >>nothing in even the deepest and oldest archives on Uunet, for instance,
 > > >>which is more than ten years old.
 > > >>
 > > >>"Involvement by the management of some of the archiving companies, like
 > > >>Uunet, would do the library community some good...  Electronic archiving
 > > >>should become an important industry; it is not, at present.  The
 > > >>safest and best archives still seem to be on paper and film."

The archivists at UUNET are definitely interested in building a better
archive.  Coincidentally, today I suggested that we should attend some
sort of library seminars to learn more about good categorisation.  At
some point I am sure I (on behalf of the company or not) will be
attending such a thing to the end of making our archives better.

It is worth pointing out that this isn't as simple a matter as
attempting to implement an existing library categorisation scheme like
the Dewey Decimal System.  There is a distinct bias in the sort of
archive service which UUNET provides, and such a system does not
adequately help the management and use of that service.

David Lawrence                                          uunet archives