ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Preservation News

Jane Hedberg

NSF/JISC International Digital Libraries Initiative

The National Science Foundation and the Joint Information System Committee in the United Kingdom have collaborated to create the International Digital Libraries Initiative NSF/JISC Joint Program. In June, they announced that almost $5 million in funding would be granted to six projects, most of which would investigate aspects of online information description and retrieval.

However, one of the projects, “Emulation options for digital preservation: Technology emulation as a method for long term access and preservation of digital resources,” concerns preservation issues. It will test emulation tools, evaluate the costs and benefits of emulation for multimedia objects, develop models to determine the value of exact replication for preservation, and create guidelines for choosing among conversion, migration, or emulation approaches to digital preservation.

This project is a joint effort of researchers at the University of Michigan and the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) in the United Kingdom.

For more information, contact Stephen M. Griffin, program director, Special Projects, Digital Libraries Initiative, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 1115, Arlington, VA 22230; phone: (703) 3061930; fax: (703) 306-0599; e-mail: sgriffin@ nsf.gov.

ASTM paper research

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) has begun a project “to develop scientifically sound accelerated aging test methods by which to reliably predict the life expectancy of printing and writing papers regardless of paper composition.” As part of the project, 15 paper samples of varying composition and pH will be tested for the effects of temperature, light, and gaseous pollutants as aging accelerators. The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCD and the Library of Congress are doing the testing on temperature, the Finnish Pulp & Paper Research Institute and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory are doing the testing on light, and the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) is doing the testing on pollutant gases.

As another part of the project, the same 15 papers were placed in December 1998 in ten libraries in the United States and Canada, where they will age naturally for the next 100 years. It is hoped that sound prediction of paper life expectancy will lead to performance-based standards for printing and writing papers.

For more information, contact Bruce Arnold, chair, Paper Aging Research Program, R. B. Arnold Associates, Inc., 12 East Barnard Street, West Chester, PA 19382; phone: (610) 429-9469; fax: (610) 429-9647; e-mail: BruceArnld@aol.com.

Web site changes

The Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP) Web site may now be found at http:// rap.solinet.net. RAP participation has expanded beyond the original five oiganizations (AMIGOS Preservation Service, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, Northeast Document Conservation Center, Southeastern Library Network Preservation Services, and Upper Midwest Conservation Association) to include ten members from the Association of Regional Conservation Centers (Balboa Art Conservation Center in San Diego, Calif.; Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, Nebr.; Intermuseum Conservation Association in Oberlin, Ohio; Peebles Island Resource Center in Waterford, N.Y.; Rocky Mountain Conservation Center in Denver, Colo.; Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in Waltham, Mass.; Straus Center for Conservation in Cambridge, Mass.; Textile Conservation Center in Lowell, Mass.; Textile Conservation Workshop in South Salem, N.Y.; and Williamstown Art Conservation Center in Williamstown, Mass.). ■

Jane Hedberg prepares this column for the College Libraries Committee, Commission on Preservation and Access. Submissions may be made to Jane Hedberg, Wellesley Col lege,jhedberg@wellesley.edu; fax: (781) 283-3690