Volume 23, Number 3
1999

Availability of RAMP Studies

"RAMP" stands for "Records and Archives Management Programme," which is part of UNESCO's General Information Programme (PGI). Many of the studies published within this program relate to preservation, but most of them relate to management. The first RAMP publications were published in 1979, and the first one on a preservation-related topic in 1980, but the first one identified as "A RAMP Study" was "The Admissibility of Microforms as Evidence," by Georges Weill (1982, 84 pp., PGI-81/WS/25).

The UNESCO website, <http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/rmpstd_1.htm>, lists 76 publications (Studies, Studies with Guidelines, Readers, Reports, and so on) of the RAMP program, and a number of related UNESCO publications. The pre-1986 RAMP publications are available from UNESCO only on microfilm. (The 587-page RAMP Reader from 1985, however, has been put online rather than microfilmed.)

Thirty-two of the RAMP publications that follow the 1985 reader in the list have also been put online. Eleven of the online RAMP publications are available in French as well as in English. (These numbers may be too low, because not all RAMP publications are identified as such in their subtitles.)

Only nineteen of the RAMP publications identified as such on the website, however, concern preservation. Fourteen of these are online. No RAMP Studies seem to have been published after 1995.

Not all the studies are of equal quality, and the earlier ones, of course, reflect the state of the field at that time, but some that may be recommended are:

The preservation and restoration of photographic materials in archives and libraries: A RAMP study with guidelines, by Klaus Hendriks. 1984. 121 pp. (PGI-84/WS/1)

Disaster planning, preparedness and recovery for libraries and archives: A RAMP study with guidelines, by Sally A. Buchanan. 1988. 187 pp. (PGI-88/WS/6)

Study on mass conservation techniques for treatment of library and archives material: A RAMP Study, by Wolfgang W�chter. 1989. 49 pp. (PGI-89/WS/14)

Main principles of fire protection in libraries and archives: A RAMP study, by Irina G. Shepilova and Adriene G. Thomas. 1992. 25 pp. (PGI-92/WS/14).

RAMP Studies may be purchased from UNESCO, DIT/AM, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75007 PARIS, France. Prices are not given on the UNESCO website, except for the microfilm copies: FF20.- per fiche (= 96 pages).

ECPA and WVLC also Distribute RAMP Studies

As of January 1, 1998, the European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA) obtained the right to distribute Xerox copies of a selection of the RAMP Studies in Europe. It has fifteen RAMP Studies on preservation, and two more on management topics. They cost from Dfl. 7.50 each for the seven shortest ones, up to Dfl. 25 for the two longest ones. A price list is available from ECPA at PO Box 19121, NL-1000 GC Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

An American source of RAMP Studies since 1991 has been the West Virginia Library Commission, Cultural Centre, Charleston, WV 25305 (304/558-2041). Ask for Karen Goff at extension 2045 or send e-mail to goffk@wvlc.wvnet.edu. The fax number is 304/558-2044.