Preservation Committee Meeting Minutes

Jan. 7, 2001

Recorder, Alvarez; Facilitator, McCarthy; Time keeper, Mattlage

Announcements

Mary Scott alerted the committee to the fact that the number of photocopiers available to public services patrons to the Libraries is being decreased, because of declining revenues. This raises the risk of increased defacing of materials.

Yvonne Carignan announced that the Libraries' bindery contract has been awarded to Heckman of Indiana. The new contract went into effect on January 1, 2001.

Yvonne also announced that some changes to preservation procedures have been or will be changed as a result of TSD program review. These include directly receiving theses and dissertations and treating damaged materials before they are cataloged.

Yvonne announced that the Libraries will participate in testing a new type of data logger to gather information on environmental conditions in the Libraries. She will receive training and will be required to report certain information as a condition of the Libraries' participation.

Maryland Day

Christine McCarthy, who is on the Libraries' Maryland Day Committee, described the Preservation activities planned for the event. These include displays on caring for books in a personal collection, on the book arts, and the disaster in Hornbake. Christine has also agreed to run a workshop on making a simple book. Preservation staff would like to encourage volunteers to assist with this last.

Preservation Planning

Yvonne explained TSD Director Carlen Ruschoff's charge to the Preservation Department to prepare a preservation plan. She also described the present status of work in the conservation lab and the budget constraints in the face of rising costs, particularly in binding. She will share a draft of the plan with the committee at the next meeting.

The committee reviewed the progress of projects that the committee prioritized in FY2001. Money from a private source is funding conservation work on the Porter sofa. NEH funding has been secured for microfilming the Barnes and Freytag-Loringhoven papers. The Born and von Mises collections are be evaluated and placed in more secure storage. Microfilming projects are progressing, and deacidification is on track. The shortage of preservation staff has been the biggest impediment to completion of these priorities. The committee decided to forego the priority setting exercise for FY2002, instead members will poll their constituencies to determine if they wish to propose any new projects or to reevaluate projects currently on the priorities list.

Digital Projects

Carlen Ruschoff would like for the Libraries' to get a digitization project under way, perhaps with Preservation Department advising and consulting. Committee members discussed the pros and cons of such projects.

Renewal of Terms for Preservation Committee Members

The members of the committee who are not permanent may renew for a second two-year term (three team representatives, Special Collections representative, designee from Access Services). Gloria Chawla, Mary Scott, and Beth Alvarez, the three members who fall under this rubric, wish to remain on the committee for a second two-year term.
1. The next meeting was set for March 1, 2001.

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