Literature--AN Apr 1995

"Copyright and 'Fair Use' in the Electronic Environment," by Page Putnam Miller. In her column, "Washington Beat," in Archival Outlook for January 1995. The author is a historian and the executive director of the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCC) a coalition of about 80 organizations. The NCC is a champion of preservation, partly because historians depend so heavily on primary resources, which are in various stages of deterioration. Miller reports on a series of hearings and conferences that have followed the July release of a Commerce Department report called Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure: A Preliminary Draft of the Report of the Work Group on Intellectual Property Rights.

Many librarians and scholars fear that copyright law will be changed to broaden owners' rights and narrow researchers' rights regarding copyrighted works in the information infrastructure (NII). The participants identified over 20 issues. NCC's statement at a September conference focused on two issues that relate to preservation: the strengthening of the provisions of the copyright law to allow preservation activities that use electronic technologies, and the clarification of the appropriate use of the NII by interlibrary loan programs. However, in a December meeting, publishers expressed reservations about the use of digital technology for either of these activities. The meetings continue; one was scheduled for Jan. 4.

For copies of the July report, call 703/305-9300 or write NII, USPTO, Box 4, Washington, DC 20231-0001. (1C9)

"AALL [American Association of Law Libraries] Preservation Policy." AALL Newsletter, Feb. 1995, p. 239. Sections are headed: Setting priorities, Participate in national preservation agenda, Work with publishers and information vendors, Funding and support for preservation, Structure to implement preservation goals, and Support law libraries' in-house preservation work. AALL is at 53 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604 (312/939-4764, fax 312/431-1097). (1G5)

CAN (Conservation Administration News), now published from the University of Texas at Austin, has been redesigned, which makes it more attractive but harder to read, because it uses a delicate typeface, on a colored recycled paper with specks and blemishes in it. The pages are oversize, which does make it easier to find in a pile of other papers on a desk, but that means that when a page is photocopied, the outer edge with the name of the newsletter and page number on it is cut off, unless you have a copier that will reduce to 95% or 90%. Nothing on the individual pages tells you the issue number or date.

The July/October 1994 issue (#58/59) has four main articles:

Preservation Policy, Dilemmas, and Needs: A British Library Perspective [first part of a three-part article] - Mirjam Foot
Collections Conservation Technician Training: The Southwestern Region - Gary Frost and Tom Clareson
A Look at the Issue of Ethics - Robert De Candido (A discussion of the AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines of Practice, especially as they apply, or are hard to apply, to book and paper conservation)
1000 Easy Steps Toward Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan - Larry Wood (A veteran of many salvage efforts gives advice in this pithy article.)

There are four "Reports from the Field," in addition to the usual columns or features:

Colonial Williamsburg Preservation Grant
New York State Deacidification Study (A hard look at the DEZ process)
University of West Indies Conservation
Stabilizing Frederick Douglass Home Environment

CAN's subscription price is $30/year. Contact Bonnie Orr, University of Texas at Austin, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Preservation and Conservation Studies, Austin TX 78712-1276. (2)

Managing Preservation: A Guidebook. A cooperative publication of the State Library of Ohio and the Ohio Preservation Council, no date (probably 1993 or 1994). 176 pages, paper cover. Each of the 13 chapters, on different aspects of preservation, is by a separate author or authors. Together they cover the field pretty well. The annotated bibliography and index make the guide easy to use. Some of the chapters that deserve special mention for content and presentation are the ones by Frances D. McClure on emergency preparedness, Barbara Brimmer on security, Vernon Will on housing and nonbook formats, Toby Heidtmann on library binding, and Wesley Boomgaarden on replacement and reformatting, mass deacidification, and funding.

This is a modern guidebook (you can tell, because they sensibly advocate sprinklers), written by the Ohio Preservation Council, for Ohio librarians. It will also be used as a textbook in graduate courses in Ohio. (2.4)

There has been an interesting discussion on the Conservation DistList this month about food and drink in the library, specifically whether covered drink containers should be allowed. Some libraries permit them, sometimes with certain restrictions, and have no problem, but in one library this led to "a proliferation of containers and water bottles in general use. Food naturally followed. There was a rapid decline in cleanliness in the library. Trash proliferated in the stacks and [on the] study tables; spills marked the floors and vermin and insects were seen more frequently. . . . After observing pizza being delivered up the main staircase, the administration realized that something needed to be done. A major campaign ensued. Articles in the paper, signage, and a newly developed security patrol (just radios and polite requests) quickly re-educated the campus as to the no food, no drink policy." (2A3)

"Preservation Planning and the Conspectus at Yale University," by Gay Walker. CAN No. 31, Oct. 1987, p. 8-9. This was noted briefly in the January 1988 Abbey Newsletter: "Describes a large self-study by a task force of seven, which was done independently of the ARL/OMS Preservation Planning Program. The planning document uses the Conspectus (part of the National Collections Inventory Project) to tell the value or importance of various collections; the need for preservation was also taken into account."

Walker's two-page article is a revision of a talk presented to a joint Research Libraries Group meeting of the Collection Management and Development Committee and the Preservation Committee on April 30, 1987. It describes an unusually careful approach to selection for preservation (not preservation planning as a whole, as the title says) in Yale's libraries, which have had an exemplary preservation program for many years--yet few people seem to remember having seen the article.

The author says the task force wanted to identify those groups of materials that should be preserved, and within them, those that need to be preserved. It focussed on the top two levels of the Conspectus (which sorts out subjects by priority for that library), and selected 140 broad subject groups or collections to examine closely. They talked with the curators, examined the books, and made 59 recommendations for preservation of the highest ranking groups, 14 of which were selected for implementation. The article does not say whether the project was funded. (2D)

"The Battelle Mass Deacidification Process: A New Method for Deacidifying Books and Archival Materials," by Jürgen Wittekind. Restaurator 15:4, 1994, p. 189-207. This paper announces the coming of age of the Battelle Ingenieurtechnik mass deacidification method, which uses hexamethyl disiloxane (HMDO) as a solvent for the magnesium/titanium double alkoxides that act as deacidifying agents. These compounds deposit magnesium carbonate as an alkaline buffer in the paper, together with titanium dioxide (a common papermaking additive for brightness). In some cases, the process also increases the strength of the paper significantly.

Test results after aging for treated and untreated papers, old and new, are presented in tables and graphs. The pH of treated papers falls between 6.4 and 9.4. (The 6.4 value was for a paper that was only 3.7 to start.) It appears to slow aging remarkably. Costs are expected to be about $9 per book. Battelle Ingenieurtechnik offers complete engineering services for building and operating deacidification plants; it also intends to set up regional deacidification centers offering book treatment services. The plant at the German Library in Leipzig is designed to treat 150,000 books per year. (2D5.9)

Canadian Cooperative Preservation Project: Final Summary Report. Prepared by Ralph W. Manning. National Library of Canada, Ottawa, 1994. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gave a grant of $875,000 to the National Library of Canada and the University of Toronto Libraries in 1990 for a cooperative microfilming program to complement U.S. programs and to position Canada to assume an effective role in an international preservation microfilming program. Five universities participated. A national strategy was formulated, microfilming guidelines written, a register of microfilm masters set up, and other arrangements made, all described in this 28-page report. The effect has been beneficial, but there is still no way for the preservation specialists to stay in touch, now that the project is over. The National Library may take the initiative here, perhaps setting up a discussion group. (2E1)

Digital Imaging Technology for Preservation: Proceedings from an RLG symposium held March 17 and 18, 1994, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Edited by Nancy E. Elkington. Research Libraries Group, Dec. 1994. 139 pp, acid-free paper. $20, + $8 shipping & handling from Distribution Services Center, RLG, 1200 Villa St., Mountain View, CA 94041-1100 (fax 415/964-0943, attn: DSC).

This symposium was developed by and for participants in RLG's Preservation Program (PRESERV), to consider the ways digital technology might be exploited in order to address preservation needs. There were two addresses (Stuart Lynn on "Digital Preservation and Access: Liberals and Conservatives," Anne Kenney and Barclay Ogden [for Paul Conway], "From Analog to Digital: Extending the Preservation Tool Kit") and five tutorials:

Pamela Mason (NAL), "Imaging System Components and Standards"
Peter Graham (Rutgers), "Long-Term Intellectual Preservation"
Don Williams (Kodak), "Data Conversion: A Tutorial on Electronic Document Imaging"
Shari Weaver (Yale), "Quality Control"
Peter Hirtle (NARA), "Indexing Structures."

There was a demonstration and an imaging exposition by vendors. The closing address was by Donald Waters (Yale), "Transforming Libraries Through Digital Preservation." Waters says that digital storage can be more cost-effective over a span of four to ten years than traditional methods, but does not discuss periods of time longer than ten years; in other words, he does not use the word preservation in the usual sense. But what did he mean, then? Copying? Publishing? (2E3)

"Conservation by the Numbers: Introducing Digital Imaging into Oxford University," by Richard Gartner. Microform Review 23 #2, Spring 1994, p. 49-52. The author is Pearson New Media Librarian at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. Two digitization projects currently underway, and a planned project for a central image archive, are described. The advantages and problems that go along with digital imaging of manuscripts are clearly explained, with emphasis on the large amount of memory required (as much as 50 gigabytes for a single work) and the inadvisability of compression to reduce storage space.

Both projects use photographic transparencies as an intermediary step. These are 7,000 images of printed ephemera, and 30,000 images from slides of iconography from illuminated manuscripts. Four sample images from the second project were downloaded 1800 times in the first ten days after they were mounted on the Internet.

In the future, scanning will be done directly, and images will be stored on high capacity, regularly copied, media, with a public front-end for a variety of platforms. A "shallow" counterpart of this "deep" storage will be provided for compressed files. They are still looking at alternatives to Kodak's Photo-CD, which produces high-resolution images, but compromises the archival quality of the image by short cuts in recording of colors, and by lossy compression techniques.

Instructions for finding the images they have made available on the Internet are provided in the article. (2E3)

"Les trésors de la Bibliothèque Vaticane bientôt accessibles à travers le monde," Gazette du livre médiéval, No. 25, Automne 1994, p. 52-53. This English-language news item describes a proposed project to digitize selected items from the Vatican Library and make them available on the Internet. It would be jointly sponsored by the Library, IBM and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. The scanned images will be enhanced and compressed, then given optical storage. A duplicate online image archive will be established in Rio de Janeiro. The cost is estimated at $8-9 million. (2E3)

"Disaster Prevention, Response, & Recovery: A Selected Bibliography - Part I," by Susan E. Schur. Technology & Conservation, Summer 1994, p. 21-32. This bibliography was compiled for the conference held in October 1992 on "Disaster Prevention, Response, and Recovery: Principles & Procedures for Protecting & Preserving Historic/Cultural Properties & Collections," which was co-sponsored by Technology & Conservation. It is followed by a two-page checklist of measures to mitigate property damage in high-risk floods. (2F)

"Automated DR [Disaster Recovery] Planning Software Survey," Disaster Recovery Journal 8/1, Jan.-Mar. 1995, p. 36, 38, 40, 42-43, 46, 48. This is a roundup of software on the market, presented in the form of a table, which provides for each one a wealth of information: cost, format, compatibility, minimum base hardware configuration, operating systems, risk/impact analysis, whether menu driven, and other services offered by the provider. Only three cost less than $1000, and several go well over $20,000. Fifteen of the companies charge hefty maintenance fees. One of the affordable software products is offered by Disaster Survival Planning, Inc. (Judy Bell, 669 Pacific Cove Dr., Port Hueneme, CA 93041, 800/ 601-4899). (2F4)

"Fire Suppression Systems: Alternatives to Halon for Cultural & Historic Facilities," by Danny L. McDaniel. Technology & Conservation, Summer 1994, p. 17-19. Halon 1301 is still legal and still available, though more of it is being recycled now, and the price of new halon produced in countries that are not signers of the Montreal Protocol is going up, because of a special tax. There are three types of alternatives: water (wet pipe sprinkler systems or water mist), inert gases that lower the oxygen level (carbon dioxide, argon, Inergen™), and synthetic halon-like gases that interrupt the chemical chain reaction that supports oxidation (FM-200, FE-13, CEA-410 and others). (2F7)

"Ten Tips for the Homeowner" is a brief guide prepared by the NIC and AIC and initially distributed to the Midwest during the 1993 floods in the Midwest. John Ketchum of NIC put it on the Cons DistList again in January for the benefit of the people affected by the floods in California. Those floods were still going on in mid-March. The authors cover cleaning, drying, inhibiting mold, removing mold growth, dealing with broken objects, handling wet paper and books, and protecting wet leather, paintings, furniture, metal objects and so on. Ketchum invites people who have any questions to call him at 202/625-1495. (2F9)

"The Environmental Analysis of Archaeological Sites," by Hideo Arai. Trends in Analytical Chemistry 9/7, Aug. 1990, p. 213-216. Despite the fact that some unexcavated tombs are very humid (95-100%) and contain up to half as many living fungi and bacteria as are present on the outside, deterioration does not begin until the tombs are excavated, and then it is very rapid. The author gives details of the tombs of Torazuke and Nefertari, and concludes that the microbiologically static environment in virgin tombs is due to the presence of antimicrobial low-molecular-weight alkylamines.

He covered some of this same ground, in more detail, without photographs, in a paper given at the 6th International Biodeterioration Symposium, in Washington, DC, August 1984: "Antimicrobial Factors Found in Virgin Tumuli" (p. 363-368). Papers were published by C·A·B International, Farnham House, Farnham Royal, Slough SL2 3BN, UK, in 1986. (2H1.1)

"Book Conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London," by Helen Shenton. Preservation of Library Materials (newsletter of the Australian Library and Information Organization's Special Interest Group for the Preservation of Library Materials), #11, Nov. 1993, p. 13-23. In a 1985 survey of 10,000 books they gave each book a conservation priority rating ranging from A to E, and found that they had a 2000-year backlog. They decided to focus on preventive measures: environment and storage, boxing, cleaning and refurbishing, improved display conditions, guidelines for loan, better packing, and the use of fascicules rather than guarding and filing. (3A)

Collection Conservation Treatment: A Resource Manual for Program Development and Conservation has been reprinted, due to greater than anticipated demand. It includes instructions for more than 100 technician-level conservation treatments, from some of the country's best-developed collection conservation programs. The looseleaf binder also contains floor plans and equipment lists, flow charts and decision trees, a bibliography of core readings on collection conservation, and the final report of the "Training the Trainers" conference in 1992. It is available for $45 from ARL Publications, Department #0692, Washington, DC 20073-0692. (Apparently this address is sufficient.) For more information contact Annette C. Verne, ARL Publications Program Assistant, 202/296-8656. (3A2)

"A Look at the Issue of Ethics," by Robert De Candido. CAN, July/Oct. 1994, p. 13-15. This is an informed discussion, incorporating comments from the Conservation DistList, about how the AIC Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice would need to be modified in order to apply to books and papers, which are often treated in collections instead of as rare single items, and not always to "the highest possible standard in all aspects of conservation." This is a rare, much-needed, statement. It raises the question of whether a separate code of ethics, or perhaps an additional clause, is needed for book and paper conservation. (3A3)

"Geschichte und Chemie der Eisengallustinte: Rezepte, Reaktionen und Schadwirkungen," by Dr. Christian-Heinrich Wunderlich. Restauro 6/94, p. 414-421. The status of research on iron-gall ink and its destructive effects is described. The author says that a reduction of the damaging effect can be obtained with ionic exchangers available in the form of organic "Xerogels" which, mixed with distilled water, can be applied to the affected areas as a paste. There is an appendix of historical ink recipes. (3B1.9)

The Paper Conservation Catalog, planned and written by paper conservators in the AIC Book and Paper Group, has reached a plateau in its development, with the end of its second three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is a knowledge database, covering 25 aspects of paper conservation, and it has taken ten years of hard work by volunteer project members. There is more to do, but there will always be revisions and updates and chapters to be written, which is why it is in looseleaf form. It is a unique, pioneering, valuable and useful piece of work. Furthermore, it is cheap, and anyone may buy it, though of course it was written for professional paper conservators. It is not a manual, but a description of a number of common methods and topics. These are the ones that have been published so far, with the chapter numbers that give them a place in the Grand Scheme:

1. Fiber Identification
3. Media Problems
4. Support Problems
5. Written Documentation
6. Visual Examination
10. Spot Tests
12. Mold/Fungi
13. Foxing
14. Surface Cleaning
15. Hinge, Tape, Adh.
16. Washing
17. Sizing/Resizing
18. Parchment Treatments
19. Bleaching
20. Alkaliz'n & Neutraliz'n
22. Humidification
23. Consol'n/ Fixing/Facing
24. Backing Removal
25. Mending
26. Filling of Losses
28. Drying and Flattening
29. Lining
30. Inpainting Rem.
40. Matting and Framing
46. Adhesives

These chapters were issued in groups, named "editions," between 1984 and 1994. Each edition costs $8.00 plus shipping and handling ($3 for the first book and $1 for each additional book). ("Book" must mean "edition.") Order from AIC, 1717 K St., NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20006 (202/452-9545, fax 452-9328). (3B2)

"Preservation of Newspaper Records," by B.W. Scribner. (National Bureau of Standards, Miscellaneous Publication No. 145) USGPO, 1934. 10 pp. [At that time, the Superintendent of Documents was selling it for 5¢!]

The first half of this paper is a detailed and technical report of the research that underlies the recommendations given in the second half. Old newspapers (1830-1900) were collected from the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Free Library of Oakland, California, and publishers of Pacific coast papers. The degree of discoloration of the specimens closely paralleled the degree of brittleness. Three tables present data on publication date, condition of the paper, whether it came from the east or west coast, and percentage of rag, chemical wood, straw and groundwood fibers found in each newspaper.

It is interesting to see in these tables that all but one of the nine papers made mostly of straw/esparto were still in tiptop condition in 1934. Eastern papers that were made mostly of groundwood from 1869 to 1895 were all in poor condition, being rated in the bottom two of the five categories of paper condition. Comparable Pacific coast groundwood papers, on the other hand, fell mostly into the "moderate" category, perhaps because there was less air pollution on the west coast.

Protective measures recommended include binding, interleaving with strong paper cut larger than the newspaper pages, impregnating or coating with various materials (not strongly recommended), tissuing with Japanese paper (recommended), silking, lamination with "transparent cellulose sheetings," especially cellulose acetate, and lamination with cellulose nitrate (not recommended). Copying methods recommended were photostatic, photolithographic, and filmslide (microfilm) printing. One stable book paper was identified (but not named in the report) that was suitable for the first two methods. Filmslides were cheaper, but not recommended because of the instability of the cellulose nitrate and acetate film bases in use then. Nevertheless, on the last page, the author says, "Reproduction in miniature appears to be the ideal means of preserving newspaper records." (3B2.15)

"Laser Stain Removal of Fungus-Induced Stains from Paper," by Hanna Maria Szczepanowska and William R. Moomaw. Journal of the AIC, 33/1, p. 25-32, Spring 1994. Sometimes the stains observed on moldy paper come from the colored fungal bodies themselves, sometimes they are metabolic waste products, and sometimes they are otherwise colorless metal ions converted by the fungus into visible stains. Laser treatment of these stains shows promise, the authors say. When the treatment was successful, little or no damage was done to the surface or structure of the paper support, as shown by both optical and electron microscopy--but you have to be careful not to burn the paper or remove ink or pigment by mistake. (3B2.39)

"Application of Scanning Electron Microscope in the Field of Conservation Science of Cultural Properties," by Toshiko Kenjo, Hideo Arai and Toshiaki Suzuki. JEOL News Vol. 25E No. 1, p. 13-17, 1987. ISBN 0385-4426. (JEOL News is a journal about electronic optics instrumentation.)

Foxing was induced in the lab in two ways, by incubation of fungi (which grew on paper with or without metal inclusions) and by introduction of iron to paper. Author Hideo Arai considers that the main cause of foxing is fungal growth. Five refs. (3B2.39)

"Induced Foxing by Components Found in Foxed Areas," by Hideo Arai, Noritaka Matsumura and Hiroyuki Murakita. ICOM Committee for Conservation, 9th Triennial Meeting, Dresden, GDR, 26-31 August 1990, Preprints, p. 801-803. (Working Group 25, Control of Biodeterioration)

In previous work, the authors established that xerophilic fungi are the main causes of foxing, and that they deposit L-malic acid, glucose, cello-oligosaccharides and 16 amino acids in foxed areas. Here they report work showing that L-malic acid, glucose and g-aminobutyric acid stimulate foxing the most. The optimum environment for the induction of foxing is 75% RH and 35°C. (3B2.39)

Leather: Tanning and Preparation by Traditional Methods, by Lotta Rahme and Dag Hartman, originally published in 1991. Translated from the Swedish by David Greenebaum. Jack C. Thompson, ed. $24.95 from the Caber Press, 7549 N. Fenwick, Portland, OR 97217. Scheduled for publication in spring 1995. The table of contents in the publisher's blurb shows a fairly comprehensive coverage of traditional methods of leather tanning. The number of pages, ISBN number and original title are not indicated. (3D2)

"Effects of Aqueous Treatment on Albumen Photographs," by Paul Messier and Timothy Vitale. JAIC 33 (1994): 257-278. There has been some question whether aqueous treatment of albumen photographs does any harm. The work reported here addresses that question by making before-and-after photographs, counts and measurements of minute cracks in the emulsion in 20 nineteenth-century albumen prints, half of which were mounted on board and half of which had never been mounted. Other observations were made as well. The authors conclude that aqueous treatment has serious consequences (14 types of changes are listed) and should never be considered routine or noninvasive.

On page 279 of the same issue the same authors have an extensive review of the literature on the physical and mechanical properties of albumen prints. (3F1.4)

Film Preservation 1993: A Study of the Current State of American Film Preservation, coordinated by Annette Melville and Scott Simmon under contract with the Library of Congress (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1993). 4 vols., 748 pp., paper. $47 from New Orders, Superintendent of Documents, PO Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Cite "Film Preservation Report 030-000-00251-2."

This report describes the current state of preservation in the US film industry and in public and nonprofit archives, providing a framework for a national film preservation program. Information was gathered at hearings in Los Angeles and Washington, DC (transcribed in volumes 2 and 3) and through written comments from the field (volume 4), as well as through interviews and published documents.

The same two authors (coordinators) put together Redefining Film Preservation: A National Plan, also under contract with the Library of Congress, and published in 1994 by LC. It is shorter (only 80 pages long) and costs $6, from the same source as its predecessor. Cite "Redefining Film Preservation Stock # 030 000 00259-8." (3F4)

The 136th SMPTE Technical Conference and World Media Expo, held in Los Angeles in October, 1994, included a number of presentations on moving image preservation, archiving, and digital storage and image processing. Many of these papers are available in preprint form and can be obtained from SMPTE's offices at 595 W. Hartsdale Ave., White Plains, NY 10607 (914/761-1100). smpte=Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

Preprint No. 136-62 was by Morten Jacobsen of Dancan International Sales, Copenhagen, Denmark: "Film Storage and Spotting the 'Vinegar Syndrome'." It includes an extract from "The Degradation of Cellulose Acetate Base Motion Picture Film," a 1994 doctoral thesis by Diana Williamson of the Department of Chemistry, Manchester Metropolitan University, England. It also includes numerous charts comparing percentages of viscosity retention and changes in acidity in film stored over time in different kinds of motion picture cans or containers (metal, cardboard, vacuum-sealed bags, and plastics of various composition). (From AMIA Newsletter, January 1995, p. 17) (3F5.2)

Volume 19, Number 1 Apr 1995

Literature

Volume 19, Number 1
Apr 1995