LC Webcasts

The Preservation Directorate of the Library of Congress has mounted Webcasts of three Future Directions Symposia from its series “Preservation Roadmaps for the 21st Century.”

The first symposium, “25 Years of Preservation Research/The Journey: Understanding the Physical Environment,” was held October 20, 2010. It presented a review of environmental research done by the Image Permanence Institute and runs 210 minutes.

The second symposium, “Assessing Options for Large Collections,” was held March 15, 2011. It presented best-practices for preserving large-scale legacy collections and runs 139 minutes for part one and 142 minutes for part two.

The third symposium, “Transitioning to a Digital Future,” was held October 20, 2011. It presented a variety of perspectives on preserving the core collections of the federal government and runs 237 minutes. Each Webcast consists of video with captions and is accompanied by a transcript.

The Webcasts are available free-of-charge at www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/results.php?mode=s&cat=57.

Protecting high-density storage

The research center of FM Global, a mutual company that provides commercial and industrial property insurance, conducted extensive testing of fire suppression methods in library high-density storage facilities. The results of these tests are published in Technical Report: Fire Protection and Loss Mitgation of High Density Library and Archival Storage by Kristin L.T. Jamison. The 126-page report describes the background and objective of the research, experimental techniques used, three large-scale fire tests conducted in their burn facility, the effectiveness of various sprinkler arrays, and FM Global’s conclusions. It also includes five recommendations for improving high-density storage fire protection.

The report is available free-of-charge from Dave Fuller at FM Global, E-mail: .

Managing storage environments

The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) will offer a second series of “Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments” workshops and Webinars in 2012.

The series is designed to assist collections care librarians and facilities managers in achieving optimal preservation environments that use the least possible amount of energy and are sustainable over time. Series II will consist of four two-day regional workshops and nine Webinars. The first workshop will be at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado on August 15–16, the second at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. on September 12–13, the third at the Vizcaya Art Museum and Gardens in Miami, on October 16–17, and the fourth at the Newberry Library in Chicago on November 14–15.

Each workshop participant will receive a Sustainable Preservation Practices workbook that includes information from the sessions, HVAC system documentation instructions, suggestions for obtaining grant funding, references, and Web links. Each of the Webinars will be focused on a specific topic, such as dealing with summer heat and humidity or winter dryness and will be available on the IPI Sustainability Web site following the broadcast.

The workshops and Webinars are all offered free-of-charge thanks to support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information or to register for a workshop, go to www.ipisustainability.org.