Sample Introduction

In 1998, Kollen et al. (1998) wrote about the paradox that exists, in which few library schools offer any course on map librarianship, yet "more than half (56%) of the ALA-accredited library schools in the United States and Canada have map collections within their parent institutions good enough to support a course....another 30% of the schools have one elsewhere within their metropolitan areas" (p. 4). Kollen et al. defined the phrase good enough to mean a collection available to the public with at least 35,000 maps and acquires maps and publications through the Federal Depository for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Government Print Office (p. 4). In addition to the restrictions on collections, they advocated a map library should employ people with real expertise in map librarianship, and defined this as "extensive knowledge of geography, cartography, history, computers, and whatever field to which the map is to be applied" (p. 4). The MODIS Image shown to the left is of Western Asia, which encompasses the Middle East and countries surrounding the Caspian Sea such as Russia and Kazakhstan. More information about this public domain image is found at eros.usgs.gov/imagegallery/imageDetail.php?page=43&img=Western+Asia&id=2129&col=Earth+As+Art+2