Madam, – Dr Charles Benson and his co-signatories suggest (May 12th) that the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is doing a “great disservice to the city of Dublin” by disposing of its early printed book collection, thereby diminishing its importance as a centre for historical research and wishes we had taken the national interest into consideration.
Far from diminishing Dublin as a centre for historical research, this strategic initiative by RCSI will enhance it. The decision to sell the books was taken in the context of preserving, conserving and providing access to primary research material contained within the RCSI archives. Unlike the early printed books, many of which are in collections readily accessible in libraries in Dublin and elsewhere, material in the RCSI archives is unique, irreplaceable and priceless, both to RCSI as an institution and to Ireland.
In addition to our archives, we still retain, care for and provide access to antiquarian books with Irish associations and manuscripts, pamphlets, architectural and medical drawings which are similarly unique primary source historical materials.
Given competing priorities and limited resources, RCSI has chosen to prioritise the preservation of primary source material within our care and has ring-fenced in advance the proceeds of any sale for this purpose. We have not sought, nor received, any State funding for the preservation and conservation of this material but take our responsibility for its care in the national interest very seriously. An extensive analysis of the book collection over the past few years supported this decision.
Contrary to the assertion, and very much in a spirit of scholarly co-operation, advance notice of RCSI’s plan to dispose of our historical book collections was, in fact, given to all members of the Consortium of National and University Libraries, which includes the seven universities, DIT, the National Library and the library of the Royal Irish Academy, as well as to other institutions with a known interest in historical books. We offered, for free, material to institutions with specific interests known to us and it was open to all to contact us for further details.
As a result of this initiative, RCSI is now looking forward to being able to restore our archival material and to providing wider access to the content of the material which remains within our collections. – Yours, etc,