Buyer Be Aware!

In the quest to procure new and exciting research collections for their patrons, archivists often go to great lengths. Having an excruciatingly boring tea with the Daughters of the American Revolution, singing loudly off key at a Rotary luncheon, or even attending a politically charged local meeting of “Fanatics in Search of a Cause,” are all ways archivists have sacrificed their comfort zone and even their sanity to butter up potential donors. Another source for good archival stuff can be found in online auctions, either the highbrow ones where astronaut patches get hawked next to Lincoln signatures, or the more commonplace eBay, a giant, never-ending garage sale of items classified ridiculous to sublime.

The problem with eBay is the use by some savvy buyers of “sniping” software that allows them to come in literally at the last second to dash your acquisition dreams to smithereens. But perhaps there are more sinister dangers from this online auction powerhouse. Suppose the Information Scientists, in their desire to stamp out all resistance from analog information lovers, decide to entrap our archival brethren with offerings that are not quite the same thing as advertised? Even Biblioposers could get into the act, exacting revenge from archives as they come to realize that we will, indeed, inherit the earth (as far as books go.) Bottom line: double check that auction listing description! There could be danger in the mailbox!