Re: Conlang Library (was Re: Doing a research paper...)

> > (And the idea is lurking in the back of my mind that a _real_ book on
> > the subject, perhaps by a one or a committee of us???? might even  be
> > feasible.  Why should that Yaguello book be the only game in town?)
>
> Wait, wasn't there an effort along these lines sometime ago? I seem to
> recall somebody on the list soliciting for ideas/help/articles for a book
> which was to be published?
Yes, there was indeed.  I was actually wondering what had happened to that,
as when I was last on the list it seemed to be going fairly well.

Balazs Sudar wrote:
> Not the collecting is the great problem I think, but borrowing. Who will
> pay the price of posting the borrowed papers from say England to
> Australia??? Or if it's the cost of the one interested in the thing, who
> could afford to borrow papers like this?  It could be made by sending
> mails (if you make an internet-library), but who has the time to organize
that all?

I don't imagine the price would be too prohibitive; shipping a book
domestically here in the States is rarely more than $2-$3 and
internationally I don't believe it's that much more, and papers are even
less expensive.  Digital copies could be made of these materials as well,
and e-mailed or published on-line.  If this was only done on-demand I don't
think the task would be overwhelming.

David Peterson wrote:
> At any rate, you realize that by suggesting the idea, you've suggested
> yourself for the creation of the actual, physical library, right?  ;)
Oh, yes, indeed. :)

The solely-virtual library idea might be more practical, but some things
simply lose a lot in being converted to digital form.  For example, from
past posts to this list I recall that several people who had put together
books in their conlangs had also used the bookbinding techniques specific to
their concultures to do so.  Something like that would be pretty much
impossible to convey digitally.  I *do* think that a (physical) conlang
library should make as much of its content available online as possible, but
I think it should have physical copies as well.

I would be willing to organize and operate such a library.  Photocopying
and/or scanning of manuscript materials would be provided on demand; books
would be lent by mail for the price of postage; a complete catalog would be
made available online, with links to resources on languages covered by the
library's collections as well as online versions of as much of the
collection as possible.  In-person access could probably be arranged by
appointment, since I certainly don't have the funds to rent commercial space
and staff it full-time (perhaps eventually, if the collection grows a bit, a
university library or special library of some sort could be convinced to
provide a little space).  I could get an initial web site up pretty quickly,
especially if someone on the list is willing to provide server space.

If anyone is seriously interested in providing materials for the library
please contact me privately.

--Eli Naeher