C&RL News May 2010  264

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

Digital curation
The Northeast Document Conservation Cen-
ter (NEDCC) is presenting a two-day confer-
ence, “The Techtonics of Digital Curation: a 
Symposium on the Shifting Preservation and 
Access Landscape,” May 25–26, 2010, at the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
in Cambridge. 

The symposium will examine our increas-
ingly networked environment, and cover 
divergence and complexity in information 
networking, open access to scholarly com-
munication, electronic copyright and intel-
lectual property, collaborative and commer-
cial preservation models, digital preservation 
repositories, digital archiving strategies, 
the networked self, and preservation of 
community-built digital creations. 

The faculty includes Julie Cohen of 
Georgetown University, Paul Conway of the 
University of Michigan, Martin Halbert of 
the University of North Texas, Peter Hirtle 
of Cornell University, Gregory Jackson of 
EDUCAUSE, Brewster Kahle of the Internet 
Archive, Heather Piwowar of the University 
of Pittsburgh, MacKenzie Smith of MIT, Me-
gan Winget of the University of Texas-Austin, 
and Ann Wolpert of MIT.

The symposium costs $325 ($275 for 
students), and the registration deadline is 
May 14, 2010. For more information, go to 
www.nedcc.org.

Booklet about damaged books
The Preservation Advisory Centre of the 
British Library (BL) has published Damaged 
Books, a basic introduction to the causes of 
and remedies for damage to bound volumes. 

The 16-page booklet describes in general 
terms the parts of a book, inherent causes of 
deterioration, external causes of damage (en-

vironment, handling, and storage), selection 
of volumes for remedial action, identification 
of types of damage, appropriate conserva-
tion treatments, and measures that can be 
taken to protect volumes before damage 
occurs. It could be useful for explaining to 
a lay audience how libraries conduct pres-
ervation activities and how to properly care 
for a personal library.

The booklet is available as a free PDF 
(340KB) at www.bl.uk/npo/pdf/damaged.
pdf.

Preservation challenges
The Preservation Advisory Centre of the BL 
held a conference, “‘Doing more with less?’ 
Forum on Skill Development,” November 
30, 2009. 

Helen Shenton delivered the keynote 
presentation “Strategic Challenges for Pres-
ervation in Libraries and Archives.” Shenton 
was head of collection care at BL and is now 
deputy director of the Harvard University 
Library. 

Other presentations included “Preserva-
tion Training Needs in Research Libraries 
UK and Higher Education Libraries” by Jane 
Arthur of BL, “The Benefits of Partnerships 
in Preservation Projects” by Sheila Hingley 
of Durham University Library, “Action Con-
servation: Engaging Volunteers Hands-On” 
by Vicki Marsland of the National Trust, 
“Digital Preservation—What Do I Need to 
Know?” by William Kilbride of the Digital 
Preservation Coalition, “Modern Materials: 
New Problems, New Skills?” by Cordelia 
Rogerson of BL, and “Preservation Advisory 
Centre’s Skills Development Programme” by 
Caroline Peach of BL.

The keynote is available as an audio 
file (in two parts, each runs just under 15 
minutes), and the other presentations are 
available as slides with text and images 
free-of-charge at www.bl.uk/npo/forum.
html#present. 

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

may10b.indd   264 4/22/2010   12:21:12 PM