The four states that now have laws or regulations regarding the use of permanent paper for state records and publications are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana and North Carolina. People are working toward this goal in at least nine other states: Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Vermont. A list of contact people in these states, with addresses and phone numbers, has been sent out from the Newsletter office, to put then in touch with each other. This list, and helpful information, is available from the office to help anyone working on similar projects in any state or province.
The Image Permanence Institute was awarded a $585,403 grant in outright and matching funds by the National Endowment for the Humanities' Office of Preservation to investigate the effects of common air pollutants on microfilm. Since all types of microfilm (black and white and color) are included in the study, the results will have application to the storage of cinema films as well. Identification of the most damaging gases and approximate maximum tolerable levels of pollutants are expected to result from this study.
A Film Preservation Program funded by the NEA and administered by the American Film Institute's National Center for Film and Video Preservation awards grants on a matching basis to nonprofit organizations. The three biggest awarded for FY 1990 were a) $100,000 to the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, in support of their continuing program to preserve nitrate material; b) $110,000 to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, in support of their ongoing nitrate film preservation program of films that are historically and artistically significant; and $110,000 to the UCLA Film and Television Archive in Los Angeles, in support of their ongoing nitrate preservation program covering titles from the collections of several major film studios. [This information is from the F/TAAC Newsletter, a publication of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation for the Film and Television Archives Advisory Committee. Subscriptions are arranged, not paid for. If you would like to get it, you write and tell them about your collection; if yours is considered a bona fide request, you can he added to the list free. Write National Center for Film and Video Preservation, American Film Institute, 2021 North Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027, 213/856-7637.1
A working group was created in 1989 under the Library of Parliament to determine the feasibility of using alkaline paper for the printing of Canadian Government publications. It commissioned the Canadian Government Printing Services to perform a runnability test and investigate the effect of printing methods on the pH of the paper. The trial used recognized standards and testing methods, and confirmed that alkaline paper is suitable; will not slow down production; does not require alterations of existing equipment; will not affect costs; enhances product appearance; exists in ample quantities; and does not degrade during printing or binding. The report has been passed on through the Parliamentary Librarian, to the speakers of both houses, with the recommendation that alkaline paper be used for government publications that are archival in nature. (A fuller report is printed in the November Alkaline Paper Advocate, available from the Newsletter office.)
There are at least 15 paper companies that make alkaline recycled paper right now, and the number will certainly grow in the near future. The telephone numbers are given below for each company, so that the caller can find out the name of the nearest merchant or sales office, but it may be easier to work with a merchant, using the list as a starting point. Or rather, work with several merchants, because each one carries papers from a different set of companies. The company's specialty is in parentheses.
Appleton Papers (NCR paper) - 414/734-9841
Consolidated Papers (coated printing papers) -715/422-3111
Cross Pointe Paper (incorporating Miami Paper; text and cover) - 612/644-3644
Eastern Fine Paper (bond, offset etc.) - 800/341-1750
French Paper Co. (text & cover) - 616/683-1100
P.H. Glatfelter (book) - 717-225-4711
Grays Harbor (bond & copy) - 206/532-9600
Lyons Falls Pulp & Paper (office papers) - 603/756-4307 or 203/782-0847
Nekoosa Papers (office papers) - 715/887-5111
Parsons Paper (office papers) - 413/532-3222
Potsdam Paper Mills (office papers) - 315/265-4000
Riverside Paper (office papers) - 414/749-2200
Simpson-Plainwell - 800/253-1895
Ward Paper (office & offset) - 715/536-2435
Whiting (offset & office) - 800/558-5055
Emmanuel J. Rubin, of a company called Art Visuel, writes from France that he has a collection of white papers with watermarks from the 15th to the 19th century, formats "in-8" to large "in-quarto" (8 - 10,000 sheets). He wants to sell parts of it, and will send samples to prospective buyers. Address: 6, rue Romain Rolland, 93260 Les Lilas, France. Telephone: (1) 43 63 82 21.
For 1990, and in each of the two succeeding years, four fellows will be chosen by IFLA and funded by the Council on Library Resources in work "to stimulate interest in international aspects of librarianship and, simultaneously, through the work of the Fellows, to give visibility and support to the IFLA core programs." This year, two of them are working on projects in the field of preservation, which is very international, as we all know. And the projects chosen will certainly give visibility and support to the PAC (Preservation and Conservation) core program of IFLA. The two Fellows are Mark Roosa (University of Delaware) and Johanna Wellheiser (Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library).
Mark Roosa will develop a set of preservation procedures that will guide both librarians and library users in the proper care, handling, and storage of nonbook materials (magnetic media, film sound recordings and photographs). He proposes to develop information packets that can be used at the international level.
Johanna Wellheiser will undertake a project to examine the effectiveness and safety of nonchemical pest control treatment methods for paper-based materials, to consider the practical application to library operations, and to identify areas in which further research is required.
Individuals interested in the program may request information from IFLA Headquarters, POB 95312, 2509 CH The Hague, Netherlands.
Two studies are reported in the Fall Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter, one on the concentration of formaldehyde at various locations in museums, and the other on the feasibility of removing five air pollutants from museum display cases using sorbents.
The heaviest concentrations of formaldehyde (up to 190 ppb) were in display cases, or (less often) storage areas, made of wood, particle board, or poorly baked enamel-coated metal. Actually, they did not measure formaldehyde, but carbonyl compounds and carboxylic acid pollutants. (At another place in the report, it says they measured concentrations of carbonyl and organic acid pollutants.) Now they will study the damage done by these gases.
The other study was on ways of removing ozone, NO2 SO2 H2S and formaldehyde from display cases. When air was pumped through the sorbent, activated carbon and potassium permanganate/alumina both did a very good job, though only the activated carbon excelled in ozone removal. But library cases are hardly ever fitted out to circulate the air through them, so passive control is much more relevant to library preservation. All the report says about this is:
"In the passive mode where flexibility of design is preferable to active filtration, the efficiency of removal was explored by changing case construction design, varying the amount and surface area of the sorbent, and examining the interactive processes among sorbent, art object, and plexiglas." For further information, contact James R. Druzik, Conservation Scientist, Getty Conservation Institute, 4503 Glencoe Ave., Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6537 (213/822-2299).
A bill (HR 3566) funding the Department of Labor and other agencies was passed by the Senate (Nov. 16) and the House (Nov. 15). Contained in the authorization is language outlining six actions which the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) now may take in workplaces which were exempt from regulations because they employ 10 or fewer workers and have an occupational lost workday case rate less than the national average for that industry.
These six actions are:
The authorization prohibits OSHA from expending money for enforcement of any other regulations. However, these six actions are a crucial change in policy and small operators should be encouraged to get their shops in order. [From ACTS FACTS 3 no. 12, Dec. 19891
The South Carolina Department of Archives and History is progressing with its major preservation planning project. During Phase I, there was a conservation assessment of all record groups. In Phase II a staff committee reviewed the assessments and prioritized the needs. Treatment strategies will be addressed in Phase III. For additional information contact Patricia A. Morris, director of collections management.
The Virginia State Library and Archives and the State Historical Records Advisory Board have received applications for 20 conservation surveys to be conducted by the staff of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in 1990. Forty repositories will be surveyed during 1989 and
1990, and survey findings will be used to draw conclusions about conservation and preservation needs of archives and manuscripts repositories across the Commonwealth. The project was partially funded by NHPRC.
The Winter 1989 CBBAG Newsletter (CBBAG, 35 McCaul St., Suite 220, Toronto, Ont. M5T 1V7) lists, on p. 28, seven places offering instruction in book arts, three of which are not included in the Guild of Book Workers' "Geographical List of Study Opportunities in the Book Arts on File with the Guild of Book Workers as of July, 1988," compiled by Joan T. Batchelor and J. Franklin Mowery (GBW, 1988). Those three are the Akademie für Gestaltung in Handwerk, Handwerkskammer für Oberbayern (Munich), the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, and the Centro del Bel Libro.
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