From Peter Elliott, Royal Air Force Museum
Heather Constance is right to challenge Feedback’s image of “dusty libraries” but I must in turn challenge her suggestion of “dusty archives” (25 March, p 25).
The archiving profession has been trying to shake off this cliché for some years. Any properly-run archive will be managed by “well-educated, well-qualified people” like the librarians Constance describes, helping a wide range of researchers to make use of the information that is stored in their collections. Simple good housekeeping is a fundamental part of a document conservation plan aimed at ensuring that such information, whether it be hundreds of years old or last week’s electronic records, will remain usable long after its creators have turned to dust.
London, UK
