Double Fold Review

In Nicholson Baker's Double Fold, he discusses the astonishing rate in which books, articles, periodicals, and newspapers are being replaced by microfilm. He also examines the way in which libraries are using microfilm to replace books and newspapers. Furthermore, the use of microfilm and its role of replacing books, articles, and newspapers are investigated. You get the point. Basically, Baker exhaustively uses 300 pages to tell a story that could have been told in 150 which is a bit ironic when you consider that one of the topics discussed extensively is storage.

According to Baker, there is a war against printed literature or, more appropriately, genocide. Gone forever are certain archives from the New York World, for example. Baker's facts and figures are certainly words worth heeding. He begins by examining preservation issues across the pond in the British Library in London and then begins to scrutinize methods here in the United States, especially with the Library of Congress. The ultimate issue, as it seems, is storage. He equates the extravagant costs of microfilming to those of simply building a storage facility the size of a Home Depot, claiming the latter would be cheaper. This may be true, but just how accessible would that make them? It is not just about preserving, it is also about being able to use them when research is necessary. It is certainly much easier to pull a microfilm out of a drawer in a library than to begin whatever arduous task would be needed to get some newspaper clipping out of a massive storage facility.

Baker also seems to have problems picking his battles and at times he comes across as just whiney. His chapter on DEZ and the efficacy of this gas in preserving paper is summarized simply with "Leave the books alone" (p 135). And thus we have two sides now approached by Baker: you cannot microfilm and destroy the books, but you also should not use gases in an attempt to further preserve the originals.

Baker ultimately has a great argument and it is all noteworthy, but his chastising comes across oftentimes more as sarcastic than informative and this gives a bitter and resentful undertone that makes it difficult to take him seriously. A self-proclaimed Luddite, speaking in such a way about microfilming and other methods, he gives the impression of being against backing up or preserving literature altogether. As with anything that ages, you cannot just "leave it alone."