dec09b.indd


December 2009  709 C&RL News

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

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

Indiana University AV report
Indiana University (IU)-Bloomington has 
published Media Preservation Survey by 
Mike Casey. The 115-page report describes 
the fi ndings and recommendations of a 
university-wide study of audio, video, and 
fi lm 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 an-
other copy. 

The report includes a detailed preserva-
tion 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 Laci-
nak, 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 decentral-
ized higher education environment, library 
decision-making processes, and rationales 
for preserving print copies. It develops risk 
profi les and a methodology for determin-
ing 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 re-
usable corrugated polyethylene box that is 
designed to safely hold wet library materials 
for transport or freeze-drying. A REACTPAK 
is a Rescube fi lled 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, Greenfi eld, MA 01302; 
phone: (301) 320-7231; fax: (301) 320-7232; 
e-mail: protext@protext.net; URL: www.
protext.net.  

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