Even before Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring was published in 1962, a few university researchers were working to limit the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Among them were Perry L. Adkisson and Ray F. Smith, who developed and promoted the concept of integrated pest management around the world. In October they were jointly awarded the 1997 World Food Prize, which includes a cash award of $250,000.
It is not known whether they are aware of the use of their approach to protect collections in libraries, archives and museums. For more information contact Bill Perry or David Schulte at Healy Communications (312/440-3900), or visit the Web page of the World Food Prize Foundation at <http.//www.wfpf.org>.
The following message was posted on the Conservation DistList January 21:
Subject: New Address of NICH
Unfortunately the Conservation Science Department of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage could not be reached by e-mail during 01/01/98 until now. Our former address (cl16lab@xs4all.nl) has been changed. Our new address is:
NWO@ICN.nlWe hope to read from you soon. Greetings from all the people working in the Research Department:
Bart Ankersmit, Agnes Brokerhof, Chris Fuit, Karin Groen, Suzan de Groot, Peter Hallebeek, Raymond Heesters, Judith Hofenk de Graaff, Mathijs de Keijzer, Henk van Keulen, Frank Ligterink, Han Neevel, Thea van Oosten, Nel Oversteegen, Luìz Pedersoli, Birgit Reiszland, Margit Reuss & Wilma Roelofs.
Scientific and Technical Awards are given for devices, methods, formulas, discoveries or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures and that also have a proven history of use in the motion picture industry. The Technical Achievement Award, for which the winners get an Academy certificate, is one of three kinds of award given.
On January 6, it was announced that James M. Reilly, Douglas W. Nishimura ad Monique C. Fisher of the Image Permanence Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology had won a Technical Achievement Award for the creation of A-D (Acid-Detector) Strips, which provide a repeatable, quantitative, calibrated check for the presence of vinegar syndrome in processed acetate-based motion picture film.
Applications are invited for the following scholarship tenable for the academic year September 1998 to July 1999.
The Edward James Foundation offers a scholarship that covers tuition and accommodation fees for the one-year internship in the conservation of rare books and manuscripts.
Courses of study at West Dean College are well established, with an international reputation, and are validated at postgraduate level by the University of Sussex. Closing date for receipt of applications is 9 March 1998. Applicants will have to undertake a practical test and will be interviewed at West Dean College. For further details please contact the Diploma Course Office, West Dean College, West Dean, Chichester, W. Sussex, PO18 0QZ (+44 1243 818219; Fax +44 1243 811343; E-mail westdean@pavilion.co.uk). Their Web site is at <http://www.pavilion.co.uk/westdean/>.
Visiting lecturers include Peter Bower, Anthony Cains, Chris Calnan, Michael Gullick, Donald Jackson and John Sharpe III. 1D3
Founded in 1996 and located at the "center of gravity" of the Italian mainland, this school is really European: It is funded partly by contributions from the European Social Fund, and it admits only European Union citizens who can speak both Italian and English. Attendance is compulsory. However, participation in the course of study is free to those who can pass both written and oral examinations before a special committee. Practical and aptitude tests are also given to applicants.
Fifteen students, all under 25 years of age, are admitted every two years. When they have graduated and received their diplomas, 15 more are admitted. A third, post-diploma, year involves specialization work-study periods, which may be tailored to the specific aptitudes of individual students, in Italian and overseas institutions and laboratories. Those who complete the third year receive a certificate of specialization.
Classes are held for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, and run from October to June. The announcement received at the Newsletter office in November does not give a registration deadline, but the timing of the announcement makes it seem to invite applications for the fall 1998 term. For more information, contact the Scuola europea di conservazione e restauro del libro; Viale Martiri della Resistenza, 71; 06049 Spoleto (PG); Italy. (Tel: +39 743 224298, fax +39 743 220567, e-mail <libro@mail.caribusiness.it>).
The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG, pronounced "Cabbage"), has moved its office to larger quarters: 176 John Street, Suite 309, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1X5, Canada (tel. 416/581-1071; fax 905/851-6029).
For years the membership has wanted to set up a home study ("distance learning") program, because their members are scattered so widely. Now they will put it into operation. On Page 3 of the CBBAG newsletter for Autumn, the board's decision to implement this plan is described:
"CBBAG is the only bookbinding association with a clearly defined, structured curriculum. This curriculum will be used to establish a multi-level bookbinding correspondence course incorporating written and video material, lessons to be submitted for critique and guidance, and a mentorship system.
"We will be offering Level 1 of the Home Study Program in June of 1998, with other levels to follow at not more than one year intervals...."
For more information visit their Website, <http://kawartha.net/~rmiller/cbbag/CBBAGhome.html>).
Oxford University is 800 years old. It has numberless libraries of different sorts, most of which were administered separately until last year, when they were placed under a new directorship, currently occupied by Reg Carr, successor to retired David Vaisey. Carr's primary concerns in his new job are automation (including the use of electronic media), staff development and training, users' needs and preservation.
In April, the Bodleian and 71 of the other libraries on campus installed GeoCat, Geac's integrated cataloging system. This changeover from manual cataloging began in the late 1980s with the installation of electrical outlets all through the main library building. Previously, the Cataloging Department had had only one outlet. (Electrical work is easy to put off if your building has solid stone walls.)
This information is from a four-page article in the November American Libraries.
An Associated Press story by Mike Feinsilber on November 27, 1997, was subtitled, "National Archives inadvertently reduces some of U.S. Navy's scientific records to pulp." The loss was not insignificant: gone forever are 4,200 scientific notebooks and 600 boxes of correspondence and technical memos, including the correspondence of American pioneers in high frequency radio, work of the inventors of radar, pioneering acoustic and oceanographic research, and materials on the early history of the American space program. The papers dated from the 1930s through the 1980s. They were totally destroyed or sent out for repulping at the Archives' facilities in Suitland, Maryland.
The Navy and the Archives blame each other. The Archives, following the usual procedure, sent a message to the Navy, saying that the records would be destroyed in 90 days unless the Navy told them not to. They received no reply, so they destroyed them. But the Naval Research Lab had not received the message, and it seems the Archives did not call to confirm. A spokesman for the Lab said they did not learn of the destruction until July.
National Archivist Carlin ordered an immediate investigation, putting Lew Bellardo in charge. Rear Admiral Gaffney wants an independent advisory board to evaluate the Archives' disposal policies and processes. (1H5)
Family scrapbooks have become a hobby to many members of the public, encouraged by the Tupperware-style marketing methods of Creative Memories, a 10-year-old supplier company based in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Since most enthusiasts hope to pass their scrapbooks of photographs and memorabilia down to the next generation, they have been eager to learn about preservation. The company has not been able to help them, perhaps because it did not have ties to the preservation community. Some Creative Memories instructors have dropped out and started up their own businesses, establishing their own ties to sources of good information.
A new development promises to improve this situation. Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. (WIR), the company in which Henry Wilhelm and Carol Brower are partners, has an agreement with Creative Memories that is described in Scraps, Creative Memories Monthly Consultant Newsletter for January 1997:
Wilhelm Imaging Research requires that we not publish any preservation-related information without first validating its accuracy and usefulness through them. They will edit the Creative Memories Consultant Guide, making sure that the technical information is both accurate and up-to-date.
They will also undertake the evaluation of every product in the Creative Memories Collection®, making recommendations to us about how these products might be improved. In the development of our new products, WIR will be closely involved from the outset. The products which meet their strict standards for photo preservation will carry the WIR "Approved Preservation PracticesTM" seal of approval. We are the first album and photo preservation company in the world to participate in this program!
Last August, four years after the Tottenville Branch Library won an award for renovation of its 1904 building, it had to be shut down because of an invasion of Stachybotrys chartarum (atra), a mold that flourishes under excessively damp conditions and can cause serious illness in a building's inhabitants.
This is the same mold species that shut down the museum in New York City (Abbey Newsl., Oct. 1994), and recently caused the deaths of six infants in Cleveland. Its effects in the Tottenville library were promptly noted, however, and the proper steps taken before it got out of control. The doctor of a staff member with a persistent bronchial condition had suggested the library conduct air-quality tests, which it did. When results were known, the library was closed and a consultant, Tiffany-Bader Environment Inc., was hired to assess the situation and see how much cleanup was necessary. Results of this assessment have not been published yet.
Two more NYPL branch libraries were closed October 24 when smaller amounts of Stachybotrys were found in them, but they were expected to open in six weeks.
The 1997 Waldo Gifford Leland Prize for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival history, theory, or practice has been awarded to Anne R. Kenney and Stephen Chapman for Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives, published by Cornell in 1996. The announcement in Archival Outlook for November/ December 1997 says it is the "first definitive guide to digital imaging technologies and processes designed expressly for the library and archival community." It is available from the Society of American Archivists (312/922-0140).
The International Council on Archives (ICA) has a listserv, where the following news was found on December 9.
Polish archives and libraries issued international appeals for assistance after last year's floods in the Oder River basin. The Polish State Archives has reported that 4,000 archival containers were donated by the Open Society Archives in Budapest (where Trudy Huskamp Peterson, incidentally, is now the Executive Director). Germany contributed 190,000 DM for treatment of damaged library collections; part of it was used for drying about 2000 meters of current records in the state archives. Smaller financial contributions came from archives in Slovenia, Philadelphia and Dublin.
The ICA's listserv is
<ICA-L@MAJORDOMO.SRV.UALBERTA.CA>.
Meanwhile, an unusual form of assistance is being provided to flood-damaged Morgan Library at Colorado State University by six other libraries, including two that are out of state. It uses the established procedure of supplying interlibrary loan requests by scanned images over the Internet. The image is printed out when it is received, and given to the patron.
Like Library Binding Service and University Products, Crescent Cardboard has created a new division (Crescent Preservation Products) to serve the preservation profession. The new firm sets out "principles driving our organization" in its 12-page booklet entitled Crescent Preservation:
1. Enlist the guidance and insight of respected conservators.
They have appointed three Fellows of the AIC (Mary Todd Glaser, Deborah D. Mayer and Emil Schnorr) to their Advisory Board, in order to "help facilitate cooperation between the customer and supplier, and ensure that Crescent Preservation Products always meet the most exacting conservation quality standards." They emphasize that these are not paid endorsers of the company or its products.
2. Create an unprecedented partnership among the world's premier sources of cotton linters, pure cotton papers, and cotton paperboard products.
The two suppliers chosen are Alpha Cellulose Corp., which has been certified under ISO 9002, a standard for management and operating excellence; and Crane & Co., which makes currency papers for the U.S. government.
3. Conform to strict standards and test products independently.
They use Library of Congress specifications #400-401-8/16/96 and 400-402-6/16/96 for mat/mounting board. Products are independently tested by separate labs.
4. Develop an organization whose sole focus is the museum market.
They have a dedicated laminating facility at Crescent's Lee Division in western Massachusetts.
Their specifications for museum boards, nine in number, are spelled out on p. 4 of the booklet, showing that the boards not only meet the ANSI/NISO permanence standards, but pass the Photographic Activity Test and set strict limits for reducible sulfur, iron and copper, and fading.
The Association Sauver les documents en péril des bibliothèques françaises (The Association to Save Imperiled Documents in French Libraries; Jean Froissard, President) has been lobbying and raising public consciousness about the need for permanent paper for years. On February 12 they will hold a one-day meeting in Paris, with 12 papers, two "round tables" and several special addresses. Speakers will include Danièle Neirinck (Archives of la Gironde), Maria Teresa Salgado (Portuguese Cultural Center, the Gulbenkian Foundation), and Daniel Ingeiller (éditions Gallimard). The scheduled speakers are conservators and officials from archives and libraries; two publishers; and one papermaker.
The morning session, titled "Mémoire d'aujourd'hui" (Memory of Today) focusses on conservation and preservation, and the afternoon, titled "Mémoire de demain" (Memory of Tomorrow), includes presentations on permanent paper. The name of the meeting is "Autodafé à petit feu" which means something like "Putting out [or killing off] slow fires." For more information contact M. et Mme. Froissard, 20 rue Daval, 75011 Paris (tel. +33 1 49 23 07 38).
The Penn Land Survey Project has completed the second year of a three-year project to conserve 3,000 early land surveys at the Pennsylvania State Archives, many signed by William Penn. Funding is from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The surveys, laminated without deacidification during the 1960s, have badly deteriorated and now have a pH averaging 3.5. As of July 1, 1997, 2,100 documents had been delaminated, mended, deacidified, and encapsulated. The Project Conservator is Diane Kessler. For information, contact Frank Suran, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PO Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17103, 717/783-9872. NAGARA Clearinghouse Fall
Don Guyot sent out a press release December 1, announcing that he had sold his business to Nancy Morains, an accomplished marbler and one of his best students. He will develop colors to add to the Colophon line, teach in his Olympia studio, and begin writing a book on marbling techniques.
The company will retain its name, telephone number (360/459-2940) and fax number (459-2945); but the address is different: 3611 Ryan St. SE, Lacey, WA 98503. Don is at 3009 Amhurst Ct. SE, Olympia,WA 98501 (360/754-4595; e-mail colophon@olywa.net).
Inge-Lise Eckmann, the new Chairman of the Board, reported in November that the Board of the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property (NIC) had decided, after several years' consideration, to change the institution's name to Heritage Preservation, in order to convey its mission more simply and directly to the audiences it seeks.
There are seven Board members-at-large, including Jan Merrill-Oldham, Debbie Hess Norris, and Roy Perkinson. Outgoing member Karen Garlick has served on the Board since 1993. 4B
The U.S. Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) has been systematically carrying out its national, discipline-based preservation plan since 1989. The project is unique not only in being discipline-based, but also in its method of selection for preservation (i.e., for microfilming), because publications are selected on the basis of value, rather than condition, use or prior inclusion in a certain collection. Scholars are asked to choose the most significant works in their field, and they cooperate willingly, knowing that they will be paid for their time, and that the selection will be made by librarians if no one else wants to do it.
An indication of the value of the project is USAIN's success at getting funding for both the state-based preservation projects and the core (national) literature. They are currently requesting nearly a million dollars for the next group of state projects.
For background information, see the first two pages of the April 1992 Abbey Newsletter. There is also a listserv, USAIN-L, at
listserv@listserv.lib.ncsu.edu. ALIN v.23, 7-84C4.3
Thanks to the initiative of the Commission on Preservation and Access and funding by the Andrew Mellon and Vitae Foundations, 52 English-language preservation publications have been translated into Portuguese by a team of eight translators to make them available to Brazilian professionals. A list of these titles is published in the latest issue of Apoyo. Most are brief, averaging about 10 pages. The project was coordinated by Ingrid Beck and Solange de Zúñiga. Two thousand copies of each title were printed. They were introduced to the field and their linguistic and technical aspects were explained in six regional seminars.
A similar effort for translation to Spanish is underway at the National Library of Venezuela, and the European Commission on Preservation and Access plans to do the same for Central and Eastern European countries.
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