Double Fold : Libraries and the Assault on Paper

Nicholson Baker
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
 9780375726217
0-375-72621-7

The ostensible purpose of a library is to preserve the printed word. But for fifty years our countrys librariesincluding the Library of Congresshave been doing just the opposite, destroying hundreds of.

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thousands of historic newspapers and replacing them with microfilm copies that are difficult to read, lack all the color and quality of the original paper and illustrations, and deteriorate with age. With meticulous detective work and Bakers well-known explanatory power, Double Fold reveals a secret history of microfilm lobbyists, former CIA agents, and warehouses where priceless archives are destroyed with a machine called a guillotine. Baker argues passionately for preservation, even cashing in his own retirement account to save one important archiveall twenty tons of it. Written the brilliant narrative style that Nicholson Baker fans have come to expect, Double Fold is a persuasive and often devastating book that may turn out to be The Jungle of the American library system.