On 3/19/07, BAXTER Terry D <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> What about the destruction of the Aztec codexes by the Spanish?


There are tons of Cultural Disasters that have occurred resulting in history
of tribes, movements, even entire Nations and races being lost in armed
conflict.  We've seen it in Kosovo, Uganda, Rwanda, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq,
and many other places and these should not be discounted.   But these are
not the types of losses that were preventable by improved methods of
protection RIM professionals could have suggested or offered.

I don't think these types of losses should be trivialized, but short of an
RIM telling someone "you should have second copies of all of this elsewhere"
or " this should be microfilmed and/or photographed to be protected", not
much could have been done to prevent the looting, ransacking, bombing, or
burning of these priceless assets.

On the other hand, some of the events mentioned (and thanks for the reminded
about the Roye event!), RIMs could have done something.  By performing a
site inspection of any of these storage facilities and comparing them
against the requirements in a set of NFPA, ARMA or ISO Standards, the Code
of Federal Regulations, or local building and fire codes.... or simply
against best business practices, for that matter, an RIM could have informed
their employer/organization of the potential risks their information assets
were being place in.

I think this is the type of event Hugh is looking for.  Again, I'm not
saying that the loss of the Library at Alexandria wasn't a significant loss
of vital and unique information, but the scribes of that day would not
likely have been able to copy every volume and store a copy in a remote
location for protection, even if an RIM had suggested it.

Larry
-- 
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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