NARA conference papers

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has made the PowerPoint presentations, and in some cases the papers, from its 2009 Annual Preservation Conference available online. The theme of this year’s conference was “Digitizing for Preservation and Access: Past is Prologue.”

Paul Conway (School of Information at the University of Michigan) delivered the keynote address: “Digitization, Preservation and the Future of the Archive.” Doris Hamburg and James Hastings spoke about “Management of Digitization at NARA.” Anna Buelow reported about institutional approaches at The National Archives in the United Kingdom, and Carl Fleishhauer reported about the Library of Congress (LC). Michael Stelmach (LC) and Fynnette Eaton (NARA) spoke about “Guidelines, Long-term Management and Trusted Repositories.” Amy Lubick (NARA) and David Null (University of Wisconsin) spoke about “Archival and Preservation Preparation for Digitizing.” Daniel Santamaria (Princeton University), Suzanne Isaacs (National Archives Experience), Edward Papenfuse (Maryland State Archives), Mark Harvey (Archives of Michigan), Karen Weiss (Smithsonian Institution), and Greg Colati (University of Denver) spoke about providing access. The Web site also contains a copy of Paul Conway’s paper, “Best Practices for Digitizing Photographs: A Network Analysis of Influences.”

Copies of the slide shows and papers are available free-of-charge at www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/2009/presentations/.

Protecting personal documents

The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) has published the second edition of “Rescuing Family Records: A Disaster Planning Guide” by David Carmicheal (director of the Georgia Archives).

The 24-page manual explains the value of records after an emergency and describes the records that are necessary to protect a family’s finances, health, civil rights, and history. It includes a checklist for recording the existence and location of essential records and their duplicate copies. It also covers the advantages and disadvantages of duplication methods, why certain records may need to be certified, how to protect electronic files, and provides a brief overview of caring for family historical materials.

The manual costs $10, plus $3 postage and handling. For more information or to order a copy, go to www.statearchivists.org/prepare/families.htm.

Environment presentation

The British Library has mounted the papers presented at the Advances in Paper Conservation Research Conference on its Web site. “Best Practice and Standards in Environmental Preservation for Cultural Heritage Institutions: Goals, Knowledge and Gaps” by Fenella France (LC) calls for preservation professionals to balance the environmental recommendations for cultural materials with the expense and environmental impact of achieving them.

She goes on to call for standards based on materials science research. LC is creating an open source reference database and repository for cultural materials that will allow international access to the scientific data collected in it.

This data should support a better understanding of the tolerances of and causes of damage to specific types of materials, leading to more realistic and effective standards.

The text of the presentation is available free-of-charge at www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/ccare/events/France.pdf.