sept07c.indd


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

Illinois AV assessment tool 
The library at the University of Illinois at 
Urbana­Champaign (UIUC) received a 
three­year grant from the Institute of Muse­
um and Library Services (IMLS) to develop 
an Audio­Visual Self­Assessment Program 
(AVSAP). This open­source interactive pro­
gram will guide users through a description 
of audiovisual collections at either the col­
lection or item level, and then assess con­
dition and preservation needs. Collection 
managers will answer questions about for­
mat, physical appearance, age, use, value, 
potential copyright infringement, and prov­
enance and storage. The program will pro­
vide guidelines for reformatting, re­housing, 
long­term storage, and potential for digital 
distribution. If the survey is conducted item 
by item, the program will also suggest basic 
metadata for digital copies. 

This program is scheduled for completion 
December 2009 and will be made available 
free­of­charge on the project Web site. For 
more information and to track the proj­
ect’s progress, go to www.library.uiuc.edu 
/prescons/AVSAP.htm. 

BL conservation center 
British Library (BL) opened its new Centre 
for Conservation May 17, 2007. The center is 
dedicated to book, paper, and audio conser­
vation, housing approximately 80 staff mem­
bers in a new purpose­built three­story facil­
ity. In addition to the conservation studios 
and labs, there are facilities for education 
and training. A primary component of the 
education program will be tours, seminars, 
and workshops open to the public. BL has 
created a Web presence that has information 
about the Centre for Conservation and its 
events, plus video showing conservation of 
BL’s Sutra of the Ten Kings (Chinese, 10th 

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

century), Ramayana (Tibetan, 9­10th cen­
tury), Diamond Sutra (Chinese, 9th century), 
Animal Zodiac (Khotanese, 9th century), 
and Mercator Atlas (Flanders, 16th century). 

Visit the center online at www.bl.uk 
/conservation. 

Optical disk test standard 
Optical Storage Technology Association 
and Ecma International have announced 
completion of a standard for testing the life 
expectancy of recordable and rewritable 
optical disks. This new standard will make 
it easier for purchasers to select disks suit­
able for long­term storage of information. It 
was developed by a multinational team and 
received support from CD and DVD manu­
facturers, related industry associations, and 
standards associations. 

The standard is currently available on the 
Ecma Web site at www.ecma­international. 
org/publications/standards/Ecma­379.htm. 
It is slated for fast­track procedure by the 
International Standards Organization and is 
expected to be released as an ISO/IEC stan­
dard sometime after December 2007. 

“Persistence of Memory” 
The Northeast Document Conservation 
Center (NEDCC) is presenting “Persistence 
of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets” 
November 28–29, 2007, in Seattle, Washing­
ton. 

This two­day conference will introduce 
participants to the best practices for ensuring 
the long­term retention of both digitized and 
born digital cultural resources and address 
organizational, financial, and technological 
challenges to digital preservation. 

Registration costs $350. For more infor­
mation, contact Julie Carlson at NEDCC, 100 
Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810­1494; 
phone: (978) 470­1010; fax: (978) 475­6021; 
­mail: jcarlson@nedcc.org; URL: www.nedcc. 
org/education/conferences/pom/description. 
php. 

C&RL News September 2007  532 

www.nedcc
mailto:jcarlson@nedcc.org
www.ecma-international
http:www.bl.uk
mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu
http:www.library.uiuc.edu