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PRESERVATION NEWSC&RL News, January 2008Vol. 69, No. 1 by Jane Hedberg High density storage The Research Libraries Group (RLG) commissioned and OCLC recently published Library Storage Facilities and the Future of Print Collections in North America. It is a white paper about high-density, off-site storage, written by Lizanne Payne of the Washington Research Library Consortium. As of summer 2007, there were 68 such facilities holding more than 70 million volumes or approximately 7 percent of the 1 billion volumes owned by academic libraries in North America. This paper covers the types, designs, and operation of these facilities, their cultural context, the future of print collections, the future of a distributed print repository network, conclusions, recommended actions, and questions requiring future research. It also covers key trends, such as shared journal archives, last and single copy facilities, “virtual storage,” mass digitization, local scanning, and print-on-demand technology. This 35-page white paper is available as a free PDF at www.oclc.org/programs/publications/reports/2007-01.pdf. Digital preservation The RAND Corporation has prepared a technical report for the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (the national library of the Netherlands), “Addressing the Uncertain Future of Preserving the Past: Towards a Robust Strategy for Digital Archiving and Preservation.” Written by Stijn Hoorens, Jeff Rothenberg, Constantijn van Orange, Martijn van der Mandele, and Ruth Levitt, the report reviews Koninklijke Bibliotheek’s commitment to preserving digital information in the scientific, technical and medical fields, the challenges inherent in preserving both static page images and dynamic digital objects, and the concept of a “Safe Places Network.” It also includes medium and long-term conclusions and recommendations for Koninklijke Bibliotheek that could be of interest to other digital repositories. This 141-page technical report is available as a free PDF at www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR510/. Pocket Response Plan The Council of State Archivists is advocating statewide emergency preparedness for archives and records through its Emergency Preparedness Initiative. In support of that initiative it published Framework for Emergency Preparedness in Your State. The framework has three components: an assessment questionnaire with benchmarks to measure emergency response readiness, the Pocket Response Plan (PReP), and a toolkit of online resources. PReP is a template for a one-sheet document with emergency contacts on one side and emergency instructions on the other. It can be folded into a credit card-sized envelope and carried in a wallet. While the template is specifically designed for state agencies, the concept could be useful to other cultural institutions. The URL for the Framework is www.statearchivists.org/prepare/framework/index.htm. PTV digital file formats The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program project, Preserving Digital Public Television, has published Survey of Digital Formatting Practices in Public Television Program Production by Dave MacCarn of WGBH Boston and edited by Nan Rubin of Thirteen/WNET-TV New York. This report reviews the extremely complex methods for acquiring source material, producing video content, and distributing it for broadcast that make television preservation such a challenge. It also has an extensive glossary of terms. This 32-page report is available as a free PDF at www.ptvdigitalarchive.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/report-on-file-formats-and-packages-fin.pdf. Jane Hedberg is preservation program officer at Harvard University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: (617) 496-8344 |
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