ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


822 /  C&RL News ■ O ctober 2000

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

LC preservation Web site
In celebration o f the Library o f Congress’s bi- 
centennial, the Library o f Congress Preserva­
tion Directorate has launched Bach to B ase­
ball Cards. This W eb site spotlights some of 
the library’s treasures and the preservation treat- 
ments used to protect them. Each o f the more 
than 100 objects selected for inclusion has a 
description o f its historical importance and 
preservation treatment, along with a thumb- 
nail image that can b e enlarged. Among the 
objects are the January 4, 1800, issue o f the 
Ulster County Gazette, which published John 
Marshall’s address on the death o f George 
Washington and his words “First in war, first 
in peace, and first in the hearts o f his coun- 
try”; an album o f albumen prints that depict 
the construction o f Biltmore in Asheville, North 
Carolina; a drawing o f Max, the blue meany 
from the Yellow Submarine; Helen Keller’s 
raised letter Book o f  Psalms, and a deck of play- 
ing cards that conceals escape maps smuggled 
during WWII to Americans in German POW 
cam ps. T he URL is http://lcweb.loc.gov/ 
preserv/bachbase/.

NEDCC digital handbook
The Northeast Document Conservation Cen­
ter (NEDCC) has published Handbook fo r  Digi­
tal Projects: A Management Tool fo r  Preserva­
tion a n d  Access. It is intended as a primer and 
covers up-to-date information on topics such 
as the rationale for digitization and preserva­
tion, selection o f materials, technical issues, 
digital longevity, project management, vendor 
relations, and Copyright. The handbook is an 
outgrowth o f NEDCC’s School for Scanning 
conferences, with most chapters written by 
current or former conference faculty. Authors 
include Howard Besser o f the University of 
California at Los Angeles, Paul Conway o f Yale 
University, Stephen Chapman o f Harvard Uni­
versity, Diane Vogt-O’Connor o f the National 
Parks Service, Melissa Smith Levine o f the Li­
brary o f Congress, Stephen Puglia o f the Na­
tional Archives and Records Administration, 
Franziska Frey o f the Image Permanence In­
stitute, Jan et Gertz o f Columbia University, 
Eileen Gifford Fenton of the University o f Michi­

gan, Steven Smith o f AMIGOS, and Charles 
Rhyne o f Reed College.

Copies are available for $38 from Juanita 
S in g h , NEDCC, 100 B r ic k s to n e  S q u a re, 
Andover, MA 01810; phone: (978) 470-1010; 
fax: (978) 475-6021; e-mail: juanita@nedcc.org. 
An o rd er form  c an  b e  fo u n d  at http:// 
www.nedcc.org/digord.htm.

CLIR migration study
The Council on Library and Information Re­
sources (CLIR) has published a report based 
on work conducted at Comell University Li­
brary. “Risk Management o f Digital Informa­
tion: A File Format Investigation” reviews the 
process o f migrating data from one hardware 
and Software platform to another and assesses 
the inherent risks at each stage o f the process. 
It is formatted as a workbook, with each sec­
tion summarizing a separate issue and con- 
taining questions that frame a risk assessment. 
It also inciudes two case studies, one about 
migrating image files and another about nu- 
meric files.

The report is available for free on the Web 
at h ttp :/ / w w w .c lir.o rg / p u b s/ a b stra c t/  
pub93abst.html or for $20 from CLIR Publica- 
tion Orders, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 
500, Washington, D.C. 20036-2124; phone: 
(202) 939-4750; fax: (202) 939-4765; e-mail: 
info@clir.org.

DLF newsletter
The Digital Library Federation (DLF) has be- 
gun Publishing a quarterly online newsletter. 
It is intended to facilitate the sharing o f infor­
mation about Digital Library activities. The first 
issue contains an editorial entitled “An Evolv- 
ing Form,” a feature article entitled “Accessing 
the Invisible Digital Collection: A Library School 
Student’s Perspective,” reports from ten mem- 
ber libraries and the DLF Office o f the Direc- 
tor, a list o f events and a technical report en­
titled “Documenting the Digital Library.” The 
URL is http://w w w .clir.org/diglib/pubs/ 
newsOl/index.htm. ■

Jane Hedberg is preservation program  office r a t Harvard 
University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: 
(617) 496-8344

http://lcweb.loc.gov/
mailto:juanita@nedcc.org
http://www.nedcc.org/digord.htm
http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/
mailto:info@clir.org
http://www.clir.org/diglib/pubs/
mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu