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PRESERVATION NEWS

C&RL News, April 2005
Vol. 66, No. 4

by Jane Hedberg

New Conserve O Grams
The National Park Service (NPS) has added four new titles to its extensive Conserve O Gram series. Choosing UV Filtering Window Films (no. 3/10) publishes both the visible and ultraviolet light readings obtained during NPS testing of more than 100 filtering products made by eight manufacturers. Safe Plastics and Fabrics for Exhibit and Storage (no. 18/2) has tables of descriptions, uses, types, and remarks for seven brand-name plastic products and twelve fabrics. Caring for Cellulose Nitrate Film (no. 14/8) contains a dos and don’ts table about housing and storage, setting up a work space, working with the film, packing for reformatting, and disposition after reformatting. Disposal of Nitrate Film (no. 2/22) outlines a four-step plan consisting of identification, reformatting, quality control for the new film, and disposal.

All Conserve O Grams are available free of charge at www.cr.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/cons_toc.html (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher).

Good digital collections
The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has published the second edition of its Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections. This document has two purposes: to provide an overview of what it takes to create good digital collections and to provide a framework for developing sound local practices to manage good digital collections. Its two intended audiences are cultural organizations planning digital projects and funding organizations supporting digital projects.

The document is available free-of-charge at www.niso.org/framework/Framework2.html.

Photo negatives
The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) has published Photographic Negatives: Nature and Evolution of Processes by Maria Fernanda Valverde. It consists of a 28" x 42" color poster, plus a 36-page booklet. The poster shows a timeline with visual examples and written descriptions of the eight most important types of photographic negatives.

The booklet supplies additional details about the chemical and physical properties of those negative types, characteristics to aid identification, historical information, and recommendations for safe storage.
Copies cost $30, plus shipping and handling. For more information or to order, contact IPI, Rochester Institute of Technology, 70 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5604; phone: (585) 475-5199; fax: (585) 475-7230; e-mail: ipiwww@rit.edu; URL: www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org/index.html.

Chinese scroll DVD
The Conservation Department of the Art Gallery of New South Wales has produced a 103-minute DVD about mounting Chinese paintings on scrolls. Sun Yu, conservator for Asian works on paper at the art gallery, demonstrates basic mounting techniques and methods for lining Chinese papers and silks.
Copies cost $90 (Australian). To order, contact Rose Peel, Conservation Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney 2000, Australia; e-mail: rosep@ag.nsw.gov.au; URL: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/.

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