Home Preservation News

PRESERVATION NEWS

C&RL News, March 2007
Vol. 68, No. 3

by Jane Hedberg

NARA Annual Conference
The 21st Annual National Archives and Record Administration Preservation Conference, “Managing the Intangible: Creating, Storing and Retrieving Digital Surrogates of Historical Materials,” will be held on Monday, April 30, and Tuesday, May 1, 2007, in Adelphi, Maryland. The first day of the conference will be devoted to formal presentations about digital preservation reformatting that cover goals, tools, workflows, skills, storage media, retrieval, metadata, costs, and the implications of digitization for preservation programs. The second day will be devoted to moderated discussions and sessions about digitizing static media (still photography, textual and cartographic records, and microfilm) and dynamic media (audio, video, and motion pictures).

Registration costs $275. For more information or to register, contact Richard Schneider, Conference Coordinator, National Archives (NWT), 8601 Adelphi Road, Room B-815, College Park, MD 20740-6001; phone: (301) 837-3617; e-mail: richard.schneider@nara.gov; URL: www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/2007/.

WESTPAS
The Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS) has begun its first phase of operation, which will last through December 2008. WESTPAS is a National Endowment for the Humanities grant-supported preservation information, education, and training program for small libraries and archives in ten western states and three territories (Alaska, American Samoa, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming). During this first phase, seven preservation professionals will assist participating institutions in creating disaster response plans and provide training in emergency preparedness and response to 600 staff members. WESTPAS will also operate a 24/7 hotline for assistance during collection emergencies. The initial goal is to create a preservation network without establishing a regional center in a single location.

For more information, contact Julie Page, Preservation Librarian, University of California- San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive # 0175-N, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175; phone: (858) 534-7695; e-mail: jpage@ucsd.edu.

British collections support
“Collections Link: Just Practical Advice” is a unique collections management advisory service in Great Britain. It consists of a telephone and e-mail advisory service, a database of training and skill development opportunities, a fund to support the development of new resources, and (of most interest to a North American audience) an online library of best practice guides and fact sheets. The online library covers a broad range of preservation issues, from simple collection care to raising funds. Managed by MDA, a museum collections organization, in partnership with the Institute of Conservation (ICON) and the National Preservation Office (NPO), this free service provides information useful to museums, libraries, and archives.

The URL for Collections Link is www.collectionslink.org.uk/.

AMIEN
The Art Materials Information Education Network (AMIEN) provides comprehensive and impartial online information about artists’ materials. It is particularly concerned with their composition, appropriate uses, aging properties, and safe use. The Web site includes articles and other resources, but is primarily an online forum for discussion of specific topics. AMIEN is a collaboration of the Intermuseum Conservation Association and Mark Gottsegen at University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

The URL for AMIEN is www.amien.org/.

Jane Hedberg is preservation program officer at Harvard University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: (617) 496-8344