PRESERVATION NEWS

Prepared by Barbara Brown

College Libraries Committee Commission on Preservation and Access

• Evanston, Illinois. In October 1990 the control— conserving the precious items in your Committee for Institutional Cooperation (CIC) involves setting and maintaining an ap­ Libraries embarked on a one-year project to ex­ propriate degree o f climate control, part two.” plore the mass deacidification processes and the Single issues may be obtained by writing the Field organizational issues raised by them. A series of test Services Office, Northeast Document Conserva­ runs is being conducted to simulate and measure tion Center, 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA organizational and logistical steps. All known mass 01810. deacidification vendors were invited to conduct the • Washington, D.C. A new report from the test runs, with two choosing to participate. A total of Commission on Preservation and Access explores 1,700 items will be deacidified with the completion the feasibility of a project to study the means, costs, o f three test runs. Based on the experience gained and benefits o f converting large quantities o f pre­ in the first two test runs, the third test (now under­ served library materials from microfilm to digital way) will result in each participating library experi­ images. The 41-page report, From Microfilm to encing first-hand the organizational issues o f mass Digital Imagery, was developed under contract to deacidification, including selection o f materials, in- the Commission by Donald J. Waters, Head, Sys­ house staffing and procedural issues, quality con­ tems Office, Yale University Library. trol work, and marking or recording treatment. • Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard Before the end o f the year, the CIC Task Force on University Library Task Group on Collection Pres­ Mass Deacidification plans to issue a document ervation Priorities has published a 74-page report, reporting on its activities and making recommenda­ Preserving Harvard’s Retrospective Collections tions. (April 1991). The publication is the group’s first step The CIC is an academic consortium o f major towards the development and systemization o f a midwestem research universities, including the comprehensive preservation program for Harvard’s University o f Chicago, the University of Illinois at library collections. Topics discussed include selec­ Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana- tion for preservation action, preservation strategies, Champaign, the University of Iowa, Indiana Uni­ and preserving access. The report concludes with a versity, the University of Michigan, Michigan State summary of recommendations, which is intended University, the University o f Minnesota, North­ to suggest priorities and a direction for individual western University, Ohio State University, Pennsyl­ library directors, senior librarians, and university vania State University, Purdue University, and the officials. The publication is available for $15.00 University o f Wisconsin-Madison. For further in­ from the Harvard University Library Publications formation, contact Sue Nutty, CIC Mass Deacidi­ Office, 25 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA fication Coordinator, at (708) 467-1379. 02138. • Andover, Massachusetts. The Summer 1991 • Lexington, Virginia. The first Preservation issue of the Northeast Document Conservation News Management Seminar for College Libraries was contains two practical articles: “Relaxation of brittle held July 20-27 at Washington & Lee University in artifacts by humidification” and “A matter o f Lexington, Virginia. The 16 participants were cho-

520 / C&RL News sen on a competitive application basis, and all serve ington & Lee University; Jane Hedberg, Wellesley as the preservation coordinator for their libraries. College; Michael Sutherland, Occidental College; Prior to the seminar, each had to complete an Ruth Ash, Berry College; Robert Garzillo, Rhode extensive set o f readings and homework assign­ Island School of Design; Art Bagley, University of ments. In 65 hours of classroom training and small- Tampa. Not included are the four faculty members: group working sessions, the seminarprovided train­ Charlotte Brown, Franklin & Marshall College; ing in preservation management and gave attend­ Carol Eyler, Mercer University; Lisa Fox, ees an opportunity to develop specific documents SOLINET; and Carolyn Clark Morrow, Harvard and detailed plans for local use. University. ■ ■ Planning for the seminar, reported over the past year in this column, was a collaborative venture Ed. note: Contributions to this column may be between the SOLINET Preservation Program and sent to Barbara Brown, University Library, Wash­ the College Libraries Committee o f the Commis­ ington & Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450; sion on Preservation and Access. Partial fundingfor FAX (703) 463-8964; e-mail brown.b.j@p9955. the development o f the seminar was provided by wlu.edu the Commission on Preservation and Access through a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foun­ dation. Initial evaluations of the seminar, by participants and faculty alike, were very high. A follow-up MARC Cataloging for Medieval evaluation will be conducted by the College Librar­ Manuscripts publication ies Committee in February 1992, in which seminar available participants and their library directors will assess the impact of this training. In October 1991 the College Libraries Committee and SOLINET will MARC Cataloging for Medieval Manu­ determine whether, when, and where to offer the scripts, a special issue o f Rare & Manu­ seminar in 1992. scripts Librarianship, guest-edited by Hope Mayo, has been published by ACRL. This special issue examines the pros and cons of using the MARC format for cataloging medieval manuscripts. Hope Mayo, Pierpont Morgan Library, re­ views the present state of medieval manu­ script cataloging in traditional forms and ex­ amines the advantages and disadvantages of using the MARC format to organize and com­ municate the kinds of information needed by students o f medieval manuscripts. Thomas L. Amos, St. John’s University, describes the active non-MARC database of medieval manuscripts and outlines efforts to The 16 participants and two members o f the create standards for a census level (or sum­ College Libraries Committee are shown in the mary) record for medieval manuscript de­ above photo: [left to right]: front row: Kathleen scriptions. Sara Shatford Layne, UCLA, dis­ Spencer, chair of the College Libraries Committee cusses her work with the Index o f Medieval and associate vice president for academic affairs Medical Images and explains how she has and college librarian, Franklin & Marshall College; adapted an ŌCLC-like implementation of Gail Garfinkle, College o f Charleston; Robin MARC to the needs o f the project. Alexandra Brabham, University o f North Carolina at Char­ Mason, University of Kansas, comments on lotte; Vicki Stanton, University o f North Florida; using MARC to catalog medieval manuscripts Margaret Clerkin, Middlebury College. Second from a the perspective of a responsible row: Vickie Kline, York College; Catherine Crohan, for cataloging and reader services in a collec­ Siena College; Krista Armstrong, Shenandoah Uni­ tion that includes a number of medieval manu­ versity; Annette Morris, Georgetown University scripts. Law Center; Yolanda Warren, Washington & Lee Single copies of this issue of RBML (vol. 6, University; Anne Armour, University of the South; no.l) are available for $12.50 from ALA Sub­ Rebecca Stuhr-Rommereim, Grinnell College. Back scriptions, 50E. Huron St., Chicago, IL60611; row: Barbara Brown, member o f the College Li­ (800) 545-2433 ext, 1545. braries Committee and university librarian, Wash­

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