[NJARC] Save the Sarnoff book collection!

[Alex Magoun]

John,
    Phil tells me that he told you to contact me directly, but not on behalf of
the club, about the reserved books that have been deaccessioned from the David
Sarnoff Research Center library.
    There are approximately 72 linear feet of books, and I will again repeat
what I said to you and other prospective buyers earlier.  The vast majority of
these books do not reflect the interests of radio and television collectors,
restorers, or historians.  This collection represents a fraction of a  library
designed for EE's, physicists, and chemists, mostly with Ph.D.'s, who can read
German and French as well as English on subjects like microwave amplifiers,
electron and semiconductor physics, lasers, etc., mostly from the 1940s to
1970s.  In addition, a several Sarnoff Corporation technical staffers have
culled it since you visited.
    Because my first allegiance has to be to the David Sarnoff Library, I have
removed those books that in my opinion are relevant to historians or museum
exhibits on everything from wireless telegraphy and television to transistors
and integrated circuits.  I am willing to add the eight duplicate books from
that selection (Bucher, Goldsmith, Brown and Lauer, Pierce, Miessner) to the lot
if you and your fellow members still want to buy the entire lot of over 700
books for $350 and then donate the set to the InfoAge/NJARC library.  I will
provide an invoice which would enable whoever writes the check to take a tax
deduction on the purchase.
    As Phil has pointed out, Saturday's party is a party with many non-members
attending, not a meeting, so this is up to your group, not the club, to decide
if this purchase is the best use of your money on the club's behalf.
    Sincerely,
Alex

--
Alexander B. Magoun Ph.D.
Executive Director
David Sarnoff Library
CN 5300
Princeton NJ 08543-5300

609-734-2636
f: 609-734-2339
amagoun@davidsarnoff.org
http://www.davidsarnoff.org/