SCHOLARS, LIBRARIANS, AND THE FUTURE OF PRIMARY RECORDS

A survey of Modern Language Association members and of representatives of other associations participating in the American Council of Learned Societies indicates that the vast majority of those surveyed see ongoing need for collections of primary records. Respondents note that neither photocopies nor digital records can satisfy the traditional needs of bibliographers, textual editors, and literary scholars;furthermore, renewed interest in the materiality of texts and the history of print promises to continue to influence scholars who study publications belonging to the print era. Scholars note an important disagreement about the nature of primary records.