News

NEH Grants for Smaller Institutions

The National Endowment for the Humanities' Preservation Assistance Grant Program, now in its second year, awards grants of up to $5,000 on a competitive basis and sponsors projects that support the preservation of materials in libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations. Last year, most applications were funded. Activities that can be supported through a Preservation Assistance Grant are:

General preservation and conservation surveys designed to help an institution identify its preservation needs and develop a long-range preservation plan to address them.

Consultations with preservation professionals to develop a specific plan for addressing a previously identified problem

Attendance at preservation workshops and training programs.

The purchase of preservation supplies, equipment, and storage furniture.

NEH wants to extend its support to smaller organizations who may not have been funded before. Special consideration will be given to jurisdictions that have been underserved by NEH before. NEDCC staff is available to help develop grant applications and to carry out general preservation surveys, consult on a specific conservation concern, and give preservation workshops throughout the year.

Applications and guidelines are available at NEH's website, http://www.neh.gov/, or by calling 202/606-8570. If you are interested in working with NEDCC to develop a proposal, call the Center at 978/470-1010, fax 978/475-6021, or e-mail kebrown @nedcc.org, by March 16, 2001 if possible.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Awards $1.8 Million to FAIC

The Mellon Foundation's generous grant to the Foundation of the AIC will be used to establish a FAIC Endowment for Continuing Professional Education. A major fundraising campaign is being planned to raise an additional $1.5 million in endowment, which together with the Mellon gift will generate an annual income sufficient to meet a substantial portion of the educational needs of members, and thereby contribute to the long-term growth of the profession.

Part of the grant will be used to establish the position of Program Director for Professional Development, and support it for the first five years. Working with the AIC/FAIC board, committees, and office administration, the Program Director will develop workshops, classes, lectures, conferences and other educational initiatives.

Paul Banks Fellowship Endowment: Gift Forms Available

Donations to the Paul N. Banks Endowed Graduate Fellowship can be made by made by requesting gift forms and prepaid envelopes from the Abbey Newsletter office, or from Preservation and Conservation Studies, Graduate School of Library & Information Science, University of Texas at Austin, Sanchez Building, Suite 564, Austin, TX 78712-1276. (The fellowship was described on p. 24c of this newsletter). For more information, call the school: 512/471-8290.

Mono-C GmbH has new Street Address in Kassel

On January 12, Mono-C, the archive supply and photo products company, moved to another street address in Kassel: Königstor 14 A. The zip code has changed too: 34117 Kassell. The telephone and fax numbers remain the same.

ISI Includes CoOL in its Current Web Contents

ISI, one of the largest and most important database vendors in the world, will be including Conservation OnLine material in one of its publications, Current Web Contents. This is a new section of Current Contents Connect TM (CC Connect Tm), which is on the Web at http://www.isinet.com/isi/products/cc/cwc/webselect.html.

James Testa, Director of Editorial Development, told Walter Henry in an e-mail message in January that ISI editors had visited the site, reviewed it, developed a standardized descriptive record, written an abstract and created a link from CC Connect to CoOL. So we might be getting more attention from around the world by virtue of ISI's action.

NCPTT Helps Fight Formosan Termite in New Orleans

The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, a National Park Service research institution, has been using a new baiting technique, the Sentricon Colony Elimination System, which came on the market in 1995. It was developed by DowAgro Sciences and the University of Florida. Baiting stations are installed in the soil around an infested building. Each contains pieces of bare wood, which are for monitoring purposes. When termite activity is discovered in a bait station, the wood is replaced with bait containing a slow acting toxicant called hexaflumuron, which disrupts termites' natural growth process by inhibiting the synthesis of chitin, a component of the termite exoskeleton. It may take several months to eliminate the colony.

In areas where there is no unpaved soil, bait stations are installed above ground, directly over active termite infestations. This works well whenever the wood of the building is dry. But if it is waterlogged from leaks and poor drainage, the termites prefer the soggy wood to the bait. In such cases, repairs must be made first. (This information is from the Feb. 2001 issue of Preservation in Print, a historic preservation publication from New Orleans.)

Canada's Permanent Paper Standard Differs From ANSI's

CAN/CGSB-9.70, Permanence of Paper for Records, Books and Other Documents, requires a pH above 7, an alkaline reserve, and strength and performance properties, like the ISO and ANSI standards, but it differs in one respect: It defines two kinds of permanence: optical and mechanical. Papers with "optical" permanence are expected to retain not only their strength, but their brightness, because they contain no more than 1% lignin. Papers with "mechanical" permanence will have no restrictions regarding lignin, and may discolor over time.

Ralph Manning's article, "Permanent Paper: The Library Perspective," discusses the cost of microfilming and deacidification as unsatisfactory alternatives to the use of permanent paper, and tells how the current standard evolved, in the Winter 2000 issue of Calibre: CGSB Standardization News (p. 4-5). The Canadian General Standards Board can be reached at 819/956-4033, and it also has a website: http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb/.

Lyons Falls Pulp & Paper Closes Down

The Lyons Falls mill sent out a sad letter January 16, announcing their plan to liquidate the business as a result of a depressed market for their products and increased costs of operation. After they sell everything, they may have $300,000—but they will owe five million dollars to their creditors.