Editorial In Defense of the Map Library

摘要

Although this editorial focused on the contemporary value of print collections, map libraries are also at the forefront of new activities like offering centralized geospatial services, involvement in spatial humanities projects, creating new and innovative spatial tools, demonstration projects, and turning their own print collections into geospatial data at "big data" scales. But the rate at which map libraries are losing support is of deep concern with, from our view, insufficient response in the scholarly literature. We do not want to define or create a list of the threats that many libraries are facing because each institution is unique. We are calling for our colleagues to define the threats they see, are facing or have faced and to put the work we do into context within the larger movements in geogra-phy/mapping/GIS, higher education, and information literacy to build compelling arguments for the value of map libraries and their collections.