ALA Preservation Week

ALA has designated May 9–15, 2010, as its first Preservation Week. The theme is “Pass It On: Saving Heritage and Memories,” and all libraries are encouraged to celebrate collecting and preservation.

Indiana University AV report

Indiana University (IU)-Bloomington has published Media Preservation Survey by Mike Casey. The 115-page report describes the findings and recommendations of a university-wide study of audio, video, and film holdings.

It covers the location and media type of those holdings, their research value, their risk of degradation and obsolescence, and concludes with suggestions for developing a suitable preservation plan.

IU discovered more than 560,000 media items in 51 different formats, most of which are valuable and at risk of loss. 44% of the holdings are unique or rare, and only 31% of the unique items are backed-up by another copy.

The report includes a detailed preservation evaluation of the most at-risk formats and an inventory of resources (expertise, equipment, and facilities) available at IU for media preservation. It argues strongly for recognition of the risks to these holdings and for taking immediate corrective action.

The study of media at IU took almost 18 months, involving a six-person task force and numerous staff members at 80 repositories. David Francis, former chief of Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at the Library of Congress, Deitrich Schüller, director emeritus of the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv, and Chris Lacinak, president of AudioVisual Preservation Solutions, were consultants on the project.

The full text of the report is available free-of-charge at research.iu.edu/resources/media_preservation/index.html.

What to withdraw

The strategy and research arm of ITHAKA has published What to Withdraw: Print Collections Management in the Wake of Digitization by Roger Schonfeld and Ross Housewright.

The 25-page report considers the value of locally held print collections in a decentralized higher education environment, library decision-making processes, and rationales for preserving print copies. It develops risk profiles and a methodology for determining when it is safe to discard locally held print copies. Most journals do not currently meet the criteria for discard, so the report also suggests six strategies to increase the number of journals that do.

The full text of the report is available free-of-charge at www.ithaka.org/ithaka-s-r/research/what-to-withdraw.

ProText online

Paula Ryan recently purchased ProText, the company founded by Linda Nainis to provide libraries, archives, and museums with emergency preparedness supplies. She is marketing both Rescube and REACTPAK through an online store. A Rescube is a reusable corrugated polyethylene box that is designed to safely hold wet library materials for transport or freeze-drying. A REACTPAK is a Rescube filled with basic emergency response and salvage supplies. Linda Nainis will remain connected to the company as an advisor.

A single Rescube costs $22.50 and a REACTPAK costs $220.00.

The new contact information for ProText is P.O. Box 864, Greenfield, MA 01302; phone: (301) 320-7231; fax: (301) 320-7232; e-mail: E-mail: ; URL: www.protext.net.