ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Preservation News

Jane Hedberg

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

Conserve O Gramsonline

The National Park Service (NPS) has mounted over 140 Conserve O Grams on its Web site, including 25 new titles. Conserve O Grams are issue briefs, usually three to four pages long, which cover a wide variety of preservation topics. Although written primarily for museum collections, they contain information useful for caring for library and archives collections. Among the 21 topics covered are security, fire and curatorial safety, agents of deterioration, disaster response and recovery, and archival and manuscript collections and rare books. There are 24 Conserve O Grams in the latter category, beginning with “What Makes a Book Rare?” and ending with “How to Preserve Acidic Wood Pulp Paper.”

The URL is www.cr.nps.gov/museum/ publications/conserveogram/cons_toc.html. Adobe Acrobat 4 or higher is required to both view and print.

ARL preservation statistics

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published ARL Preservation Statistics 2001-02. The data show fluctuations at the institutional level, but increases in preservation expenditures, staffing levels, and volumes microfilmed overall.

The printed report costs $60.00 for members or $120.00 for nonmembers, plus shipping and handling. To order, contact ARL Publication Distribution Center, P.O. Box 531, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0531; phone: (301) 362-8196; fax: (301) 206-9789; e-mail: pubs@arl.org; URL: www.arl.org/pubscat/ order/. The data tables for FY02 and the published versions of previous years’ reports are available free-of-charge at www.arl.org/stats/ pres/index. html.

Disaster recovery contract

The Preservation and Binding Working Group of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) has produced a draft disaster recovery contract, to assist federal agencies, especially libraries and archives, in working with procurement officials and vendors. The draft is designed to speed the contracting process, so materials may be salvaged as quickly as possible. It stresses careful consideration of the scope of work, security (particularly if the disaster site is a crime scene), the length of the contract and price.

The URL for the draft contract is www. loc. gov/flicc/pdf/ disaster. pdf.

Ink jet prints stability

The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) has mounted Stability Issues and Test Methods for Ink Jet Materials, a thesis by Barbara Vogt for the Department of Image Engineering, University of Applied Science, Cologne, Germany. In her thesis, Vogt reviews the basics of ink jet technology, inks, color science, media design, light-fastness, water-fastness, humidity- fastness, ozone-fastness, and the effects of other pollutants, then reports on the results of various tests performed on various prints. These results emphasize the need for standards for testing ink jet prints and the difficulty of generalizing about ink fading.

The thesis is available at www.rit.edu/ ~661 www l/sub_pages/8pagel7f. htm.

Needs assessment tool, additional information

The Northeast Document Conservation Center publication, Assessing Preservation Needs: A Self-Survey Guide (previously described in the October 2003 column), is now available free-of-charge on the NEDCC Web site. The accompanying 30-minute video presentation is available for purchase from Amigos Library Services, Inc.

The URL for the free text version is www.nedcc.org. The video costs $40.00 in VHS or $50.00 in DVD (discounts are available for Amigos members). To order, contact Amigos Library Services, 14400 Midway Road, Dallas, TX 75244-3509; phone: (800) 843-8482; fax: (972) 991-6061; URL: www.amigos.org/video_form.html. ■