ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


766 / C&RL News ■  October 1999

P r e s e r v a t i o n  N e w s Jane Hedberg

NSF/JISC In ternational D igital Lib ra r­
ies In itiative
The National Science Foundation and the Joint 
Information System Committee in the United 
Kingdom have collaborated to create the In­
ternational Digital Libraries Initiative NSF/JISC 
Joint Program. In June, they announced that 
almost $5 million in funding w ould be granted 
to six projects, most o f w hich w ould investi­
gate aspects o f online information descrip­
tion and retrieval.

However, one of the projects, “Emulation 
options for digital preservation: Technology 
emulation as a m ethod for long term access 
and preservation of digital resources,” con­
cerns preservation issues. It will test emula­
tion tools, evaluate the costs and benefits of 
em ulation for multimedia objects, develop 
models to determine the value of exact repli­
cation for preservation, and create guidelines 
for choosing am ong conversion, migration, 
o r emulation approaches to digital preserva­
tion.

This project is a joint effort o f researchers 
at the University of Michigan and the Con­
sortium  o f U niversity R esearch Libraries 
(CURL) in the United Kingdom.

For more information, contact Stephen M. 
Griffin, program director, Special Projects, 
Digital Libraries Initiative, National Science 
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 
1115, Arlington, VA 22230; phone: (703) 306- 
1930; fax: (703) 306-0599; e-mail: sgriffin@ 
nsf.gov.

ASTM paper research
The American Society for Testing and Materi­
als (ASTM) has begun a project “to develop 
scientifically sou n d  accelerated aging test 
methods by which to reliably predict the life 
expectancy o f printing and writing papers 
regardless o f paper com position.” As part of 
the project, 15 paper samples of varying com­

Jane Hedberg prepares this colum n f o r  th e  College Libraries 
C o m m itte e , C o m m ission o n  P re se rva tio n  a n d  Access. 
Subm issions m ay be m a d e  t o  Jane H e d b e rg , W e lle sle y 
Col le g e ,jh edberg@ w ellesley.edu; fa x: (781) 283-3690

position and pH will be tested for the effects 
o f tem perature, light, and gaseous pollutants 
as aging accelerators. The Canadian Conser­
vation Institute (CCD and the Library o f Con­
gress are doing the testing on temperature, 
the Finnish Pulp & Paper Research Institute 
and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory are 
doing the testing on light, and the Image Per­
m anence Institute (IPI) is doing the testing 
on pollutant gases.

As another part of the project, the same 15 
papers were placed in December 1998 in ten 
libraries in the United States and Canada, where 
they will age naturally for the next 100 years. It 
is hoped that sound prediction of paper life 
expectancy will lead to performance-based 
standards for printing and writing papers.

For m ore inform ation, co n tac t Bruce 
Arnold, chair, Paper Aging Research Program, 
R. B. Arnold Associates, Inc., 12 East Barnard 
Street, West Chester, PA 19382; phone: (610) 
429-9469; fax: (610) 429-9647; e-m ail: 
BruceArnld@aol.com.

Web site changes
The Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP) 
Web site m ay n o w  b e  fo u n d  at h tt p :/ / 
rap.solinet.net. RAP participation has expanded 
beyond the original five oiganizations (AMIGOS 
Preservation Service, Conservation Center for 
Art and Historic Artifacts, Northeast Document 
Conservation Center, Southeastern Library Net­
work Preservation Services, and Upper Mid­
west Conservation Association) to include ten 
members from the Association of Regional 
Conservation Centers (Balboa Art Conserva­
tion Center in San Diego, Calif.; Gerald R. Ford 
C o n se rv a tio n  C e n te r in O m ah a, N ebr.; 
Interm useum  C onservation Association in 
Oberlin, Ohio; Peebles Island Resource Center 
in Waterford, N.Y.; Rocky Mountain Conserva­
tion Center in Denver, Colo.; Society for the 
Preservation of New England Antiquities in 
Waltham, Mass.; Straus Center for Conserva­
tion in Cambridge, Mass.; Textile Conservation 
Center in Lowell, Mass.; Textile Conservation 
W o rk s h o p  in S o u th  S alem , N.Y.; a n d  
W illiamstown Art C onservation C enter in 
Williamstown, Mass.). ■

nsf.gov
mailto:BruceArnld@aol.com
rap.solinet.net
mailto:jhedberg@wellesley.edu