ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 47 6 / C&RL News ■ July/August 2003 P r e s e r v a t i o n N e w s Jane Hedberg S ta n fo rd ’ s b o o k scanning r e p o rt S tanford University Libraries and Academic Infor­ m ation Resources (SUL/AIR) has published “Ro­ botic Book Scanning at the Stanford U niversity Libraries a n d Academ ic In fo rm atio n Resources: Report on the Status o f D igitization Facilities and Services for Bound Library M aterials.” T h e report describes their investigation o f a Swiss-made page- turner and scanner called Digitizing Line (DL). This new equipm ent is a key com ponent in their Digital Library Program (DLP), w hich is intended to in­ crease access to the libraries’ resources. D L processes books face-up, tu rn s betw een 500 to 1,160 pages per hour, and accom m odates books w ith differing sizes, b o o k structures, and types o f paper. SUL’s M edia Preservation U n it did extensive testing to determ ine w hether books w ould be dam aged by D L, a nd concluded th at there w ould n o t be any m ore damage th an that p ro d u c ed by face-dow n photocopying. D L will n o t be used on rare or brittle materials. Its first large-scale project will be digitization o f approxi­ m ately 2 ,5 0 0 books p u b lished by the Stanford U niversity Press. T h e N ew York Times covered this story in an article on M ay 12, 2003, entitled “T h e Evelyn W o o d o f D ig itiz ed B ook Scanners” by Jo h n M arkoff. T h e report is available online at http://w w w - sul.stanford.edu/depts/dirofif/DLStatement.html. O rp h a n film s T he N ational Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) awarded its 2003 federally funded grants to 33 ar­ chives for preservation o f 65 historically or cultur­ ally significant orphan films. T hese small grants, normally $3,000 to $6,000 each, support produc­ tion o f new film master elements and public access copies. O rphan films are narrowly defined as those abandoned by their owners or caretakers, b u t more com m only defined as those outside the commercial mainstream, e.g., public domain materials, home mov­ ies, industrial and educational movies, independent docu­ mentaries, ethnographic films, and small or unusual gauge films. NFPF was created by Congress in 1996 as a charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board o f the Library o f Congress. More information about N FPF and this program is available at h ttp ://w w w .film p re s e rv a tio n .o rg / sm_index.html. T h e U niversity o f S outh C arolina will h ost its fo u rth sym posium a b o u t the preservation, study, a nd use o f o rphan films on M arch 25 to 27, 2004. T h e them e will be h ow regional a nd local films represent their worlds. M o re inform ation a b o u t the sym posium and o rp h a n films is available at http ://w w w .sc.ed u / o rp h a n film /. A rch iva l Products New s o n lin e Archival Products, a division o f the Library Bind­ ing Service, has m ounted m any o f the articles p u b ­ lished in the print newsletter, Archival Products News, on its W eb site. T he articles, w ritten by preserva­ tion practitioners, are succinct introductions to a variety o f preservation topics. T h ey include “Sil verfish, T h eir Activities and H o w to Stop T h e m ” by M argit Sm ith o f the University o f San Diego; “H elpful H ints for the Safe Transport o f Library Materials” by Oliver Cutshaw o f the Harvard Col­ lege Library; “Rehousing a Portrait C ollection” by Susan M artin o f the N ew York Academy o f M edi­ cine; “Integrating Library Preservation into the Daily Operations o f a Small College Library” by Rebecca Stuhr, Jean Reavis, and Sheryl Bissen o f Grinnell College; “M anaging a Stacks C leaning Project” by Shannon Zachary o f the University o f Michigan; and “So You W ant to D o a T im e Capsule? Tips to Keep in M in d W hile Trying to Defeat T im e” by Ivan H a n th o rn o f the U niversity o f Iowa. T h e articles are available at http://w w w .archival.com / new sletter.htm l. P h o to g ra p h p re s e rv a tio n T he Washington Post published “Buried Treasure: W hy has Bill Gates Stashed M illions o f the Greatest Im ­ ages o f the 20 th C e n tu ry U n d e r a M o u n ta in in Pennsylvania?” by M ary Battiata on Sunday, M ay 1 8 , 2003, in its Post Magazine (page W 14). Although the article is about preservation o f the Corbis C ol­ lection, it covers m any p hotograph preservation is­ sues. T h e article is available from libraries or from the Washington Post online archives fo r $2.95 at h t t p : / / w w w . w a s h i n g t o n p o s t . c o m / w p - a d v / a rch iv es/fro n t.h tm . ■ Jane Hedberg is preservation program officer at Harvard University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: (617) 496-8344 http://www- http://www.filmpreservation.org/ http://www.sc.edu/ http://www.archival.com/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/ mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu