ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


940 /  C&RL News ■  N ovem ber 2000

P r e s e r v a t i o n  N e w s Jane Hedberg

IFLA releases guide to best practices
The Core Programme on Preservation and 
Conservation (PAC) o f the International Fed­
eration o f Library Associations and Institu­
tions (IFLA) has released “Safeguarding our 
Documentary Heritage” in French and En­
glish on CD-ROM. This guide is an outgrowth 
o f UNESCO’s “Memory o f the World” pro­
gram and contains preservation information 
about cau ses o f d eterioration, preventive 
measures, and recom mended practices for a 
variety o f media. It covers environment and 
storage, disaster planning, graphic documents, 
photographic documents, film, mechanical 
carriers, magnetic carriers, optic carriers, and 
electronic documents. Publication o n  CD- 
ROM permits enrichm ent o f the text with 
active links to sources on the W eb. UNESCO 
hopes the guide will b ecom e a training tool 
for preservation educators.

Excerpts from the publication are available 
on the UNESCO Web site at http://www. 
unesco.org/webworld/mdm/index.html. Cop­
ies o f the complete CD-ROM are available for 
free from Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff, director of 
the Project, Bibliothèque nationale de France; 
e-mail: marie-Therese.varlamoff@bnf.fr.

NPO online leaflets
The National Preservation O ffice (NPO) o f 
the British Library has mounted the full-text 
o f some preservation guidance leaflets on  its 
W eb site. Titles include “G ood handling prin­
ciples and practice for library and archive 
m aterials,” “P h o to co p y in g  o f library and 
archive materials,” “Guidance for exhibiting 
archive and library materials,” “The applica­
tion and use o f standards in the care and 
management o f libraries and archives,” and 
“Preservation o f photographic m aterial.”

T he leaflets are available in PDF format at 
http://w w w .bl.u k/services/preservation/ 
fpublications.html. Paper copies o f the same 
leaflets (a maximum o f five copies per title) 
are available from the National Preservation 
Office, T he British Library, 96 Euston Road, 
London, NW1 2DB, England; phone: ++44 
(0)20 7412 7612; fax: ++44 (0 )2 0  7412 7796; 
e-mail: np o@ bl.uk.

NARA Conference
T he National Archives and Records Adminis­
tration (NARA) will hold its 16th annual con­
ference on March 27, 2001, in College Park, 
Maryland. Entitled “2001, A Case Oddity: Pre­
serving the Physical Evidence o f Artifacts,” 
the conference will address the preservation 
o f objects that have forensic value. Preserva­
tion o f fingerprinted objects, firearms, blood, 
and biological matter presents a special chal­
lenge, so speakers will cover custodial issues 
and responsibilities, as well as conservation 
topics.

Registration costs $75 and pre-registration 
is required. For more information, contact 
Eleanor Torain, 8601 Adelphi Road, Room 
2807, College Park, MD 20740-6001; phone: 
(3 0 1 ) 713-6718; fax: (301) 713-6653; e-mail: 
preserve@nara.gov.

LC's digital future
In 1998, the Librarian o f Congress commis­
sioned a National Research Council (NRC) 
study o f Library o f Congress’s (LC) technol­
ogy practices and initiatives. “LC21: A Digital 
Strategy for the Library o f Congress,” the re­
port on that study, was issued during the 
summer o f 2000. The report observes that LC 
has “a vital role in documenting and preserv­
ing the history o f American creativity and in 
building a collection with truly worldwide 
scope. But it cannot go on as befo re." The 
NRC’s recom mendations included providing 
leadership in preservation and archiving digi­
tal materials, cooperating with other institu­
tions on digital collection developm ent and 
preservation programs, developing efficient 
copyright processes for original digital mate­
rials, and upgrading its technology infrastruc­
ture. The New York Times published a sum­
mary o f the report, “Saving the Nation’s Digital 
Legacy” by Katie Hafner, on July 27, 2000.

The full text o f the report is available at 
h ttp :/ / w w w .nap .edu /b ook s/ 030907l445/  
html. ■

Jane Hedberg is preservation program  offic e r at Harvard 
University, e-maii: jane_hedberg@ harvard.edu; fax: (617) 
4 9 6 -8 3 4 4

http://www
mailto:marie-Therese.varlamoff@bnf.fr
http://www.bl.uk/services/preservation/
mailto:npo@bl.uk
mailto:preserve@nara.gov
http://www.nap.edu/books/030907l445/
mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu


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