ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C & R L N e w s ■ F e b r u a r y  2001 / 2 1 3

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

RAP creates Web site
The Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP), 
a consortium of 15 nonprofit preservation cen­
ters in the United States, has mounted a Web 
site. RAP began in 1997 as an alliance of the 
field service programs that were funded by 
the National Endowment of the Humanities. 
In 1998, the alliance expanded to include the 
members of the Association of Regional Con­
servation Centers (ARCC). Its mission “is to 
provide comprehensive preservation informa­
tion to cultural institutions and the public 
throughout the United States.” Their Web site 
contains descriptions of the education, out­
reach, conservation, and other services pro­
vided by each center, as well as complete con­
tact information. It includes a bibliography of 
technical leaflets created by the participating 
centers with links to those available free on 
the Web. There is also a “Starter Kit for Collec­
tion Managers,” which is a virtual compilation 
of basic online resources for library and ar­
chives professionals w ho are unfamiliar with 
preservation issues.

The URL for this Web site, initially funded 
by the Institute of Museum and Library Ser­
vices (IMLS) and m anaged by NEDCC, is 
http://www.rap-arcc.org.

NEDCC d igital manual online
The Northeast Document Conservation Center 
(NEDCC) has mounted its recent publication, 
“Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management 
Tool for Preservation and Access,” on its Web 
site. This manual is an outgrowth of NEDCC’s 
popular conference, School for Scanning. Most 
of the chapters were written by conference 
faculty and include information presented at 
the most recent conferences.

Edited by Maxine Sitts, this publication 
covers the advantages of digital access, the 
risks of digital imaging projects, w hat digital 
imaging is not, preservation in the digital 
world, relationships am ong purpose, source, 
and technology, and the transformation of 
preservation principles. This online version 
contains a searchable keyw ord site index.

The free pdf version of the manual can be 
found at http://w ww .nedcc.org. Paper copies

of the manual are still available for $38 from 
NEDCC, 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 
01810-1494; phone: (978) 470-1010; fax: (978) 
475-6021.

British d igita l w orkbook online
A pre-publication draft of “Preservation Man­
agem ent of Digital Materials W orkbook” is 
available online as a 152-page pdf file. Maggie 
Jones of the Arts and Humanities Data Service 
and Neil Beagrie of the Joint Information Ser­
vice Committee Digital Preservation Focus of­
fered this draft for comment before its sum­
mer 2001 publication date. Although intended 
for a British audience, the workbook contains 
general information about digital preservation 
that could be of interest to an international 
audience.

T h e d ra ft w o rk b o o k  is a v a ila b le  at 
h ttp ://w w w .jis c .a c .u k /d n e r/p re s e rv a tio n / 
workbook/. Reading it requires Acrobat, which 
is a free program. Anyone interested in re­
ceiving publication details and ordering infor­
mation for the final publication may send an 
e-mail request to jisc@kcl.ac.uk.

D igital prints identification
The Electronic Media Group (EMG) of the 
American Institute for Conservation of Historic 
and Artistic Works (AIC) has mounted a Web 
site to facilitate identification of digital print 
processes. Managed by Martin Juergens, the 
site has a database describing digital processes 
using such standard characteristics as name, date, 
medium, colorant, surface, inscription, format, 
image quality, and application. Processes are cat­
egorized by analog, semi-analog, digital, and 
media criteria. The site also includes a visual in­
spection checklist to help identify processes used 
on particular documents, plus a glossary and a 
bibliography. The Webmaster is interested in 
adding new information and encourages contri­
butions from knowledgeable users. The URL for 
this site is http://aic.stanford.edu/conspec/emg/ 
juergens/. ■

Jane Hedberg is preservation program officer at Harvard 
University, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; fax: (617) 
496-8344

http://www.rap-arcc.org
http://www.nedcc.org
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation/
mailto:jisc@kcl.ac.uk
http://aic.stanford.edu/conspec/emg/
mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu


214 /  C&RL News ■ February 2001