ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Preservation News

Jane Hedberg

PBS to show “Into the Future”

The Public Broadcast System is planning to air Terry Sanders’ new film, “Into the Future: On the Preservation of Knowledge in the Electronic Age,” on January 13, 1998, at 10 p.m., EST. The film, focusing on the fragility of electronic data, is narrated by Robert McNeil and includes interviews with people prominent in computing and electronic communication.

Conference on info management

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NDCC), with the National Park Service Museum Management Program, the National Register of Historic Places and the National Archives and Records Administration, is sponsoring “The Information Ecosystem: Managing the Life Cycle of Information.” This four-day conference will be held on March 10–13, 1998, at Archives II, College Park, Maryland. Attendees will learn how to create, manage, adapt, and reuse information, particularly in electronic form. Topics will include the ecology of information, stakeholders in systems, creation of long-lived information, reuse of existing information, integration of legacy data, new and endangered species of information, challenges of special projects, legal issues, and research assistance. For details contact Gay Tracy, NDCC, 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810; phone: (978) 470-1010; fax: (978) 475-6021; email: tracy@nedcc.org.

Commission publishes digitization report

The Commission on Preservation and Access published “Digitization as a Means of Preservation?” in October 1997. The report was written by Hartmut Weber and Marianne Doerr for the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and translated into English under the auspices of the European Commission on Preservation and Access in July 1997. Recognizing that information in digital form is accessible but fragile and information in microform is robust, the report investigates how to best use them as compatible formats. A DFG working group investigated the technical nature of digital and microform conversion by testing standardized materials and evaluating the results. This led to quality requirements for digital copies, using the same standard for preservation microfilming, and minimum standards for printouts from microforms so digital derivatives can meet acceptable quality standards. The report is available for $10 prepaid, including s/h, from the Council on Library and Information Resources, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20036-2188; phone: (202) 939-4750; fax: (202) 939-4765; e-mail: info@clir.org. (Commission sponsors receive publications free of charge.)

NHPRC announces grant recipients

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission announced its recommendation that 28 projects receive a total of $2,308,182 in funding. Five of the projects involve electronic records, with $20,000 going to the Association of Research Libraries and Coalition for Networked Information for development of a pilot workshop on electronic records issues; $105,845 to the University of Michigan for analysis of recordkeeping practices in six private-sector organizations; $90,031 to the Minnesota Historical Society for establishment of electronic records programs in two state agencies; $381,332 to the Research Foundation of the State University of New York for development of guidelines for the preservation of electronic records of interest to secondary users; and $123,928 to Cornell University for study of archival electronic records produced at the college-level within the university. The other 23 grants were for state board planning and editing projects. For more information, contact the NHPRC, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 106, Washington, D.C.; phone: (202) 501-5610; fax: (202) 501-5601; e-mail: nhprc@archl.nara.gov. ■