New York State library preservation grants

New York State Library announces grants to research libraries to
preserve endangered materials in research libraries.

Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education and Acting State
Librarian Carole Huxley today announced eight grants to research
libraries for cooperation in preserving endangered research
materials.  The grants, totaling $350,000 will preserve collections
of materials important to the State and will support research in
preservation techniques.

The grants are part of a Coordinated Preservation Program, enacted
in 1984.  They provide funds for cooperative activities among eleven
comprehensive research libraries designated in Education law:
Columbia University, Cornell University, the Research Libraries of
the New York Public Library, the SUNY centers at Albany, Binghamton,
Buffalo, and Stony Brook, New York State Library, New York
University, Syracuse University and the University of Rochester.
This program enables libraries to preserve materials on the
economic, social, cultural and educational history of New York
State.  In addition to helping libraries preserve irreplaceable
books, maps, photographs, architectural drawings and archives, the
program has supported internships, workshops, consultations and
seminars which have expanded the preservation knowledge base
throughout the State.

According to Barbara Lilley, Conservation/Preservation Program
Officer on the New York State Library Development Team the eight
projects supported by the Coordinated Preservation Project Program
in 1996-97 are:

    1.  Preserving the Literature of Natural History of the
        Northeastern Bio-region  ($75,025 third year).  In this
        three-year project, Cornell University and the New York
        State Library will complete the preservation of the core
        historical literature of natural history and natural
        resources in the bio-region surrounding and including New
        York.  The 1996-97 grant is $75,025.  The total award, over
        three years is $185,706.

    2.  Enclosures and Air Pollution in Image Preservation ($1,000
        in 1996-97, third year). The University of Rochester, with
        the cooperation of seven other comprehensive research
        libraries, will support a three-year scientific research and
        development project in library preservation.  The research
        will investigate the deleterious effects of pollutants on
        color and black and white photographic materials, especially
        microfilm and test commonly available storage enclosures to
        determine the extent of protection afforded by each type and
        determine those best suited for storing various kinds of
        imaging materials.  The Image Permanence Institute at
        Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY is the
        prime contractor for the research.  In June 1993, the
        National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the Institute
        $206,000 and has committed an additional $47,000 in Federal
        matching funds.  The New York State comprehensive research
        libraries grant will help meet the matching requirements.
        The participants, in addition to the University of
        Rochester, include Columbia University, the SUNY centers at
        Binghamton, Stony Brook, Albany and Buffalo, The New York
        Public Library and Syracuse University.  The 1996-97 award
        is for $1,000.  The total award amount is $47,000.

    3.  Central New York Technician Training Program ($30,571 in
        1996-97, second year). Cornell University will provide eight
        libraries in the Central New York region with the means to
        establish the basis for preservation programs through the
        training of staff in standard preservation techniques.  The
        Cornell University Conservation Department staff will
        provide this training through a form of internship involving
        a series of short-term training sessions.  The program will
        consist of three two-week training sessions over the course
        of nine months with two trainees in attendance.  The program
        will be repeated four times in the three year period.  A
        total of eight individuals will receive six weeks of
        training each.  The award for this year is $30,571.  The
        total award amount will be $81,882.

    4.  Preservation Photocopying of Ozalid Music Scores ($50,334
        year one).  The University of Rochester with Columbia
        University Libraries and the New York Public Library will
        preservation photocopy deteriorating oversized music scores
        produced by the ozalid reproduction process. The ozalid
        process is a photographic process used mainly for the
        reproduction of maps and blueprints and is unstable and
        impermanent.  A total of 970 scores from the three
        participating institutions will be photocopied onto
        buffered, acid-free paper stock and bound.  Participating
        libraries will update their bibliographic records to
        indicate the existence of the preservation photocopy. The
        award for this year is $50,334. The total award amount is
        $59,048.

    5.  Evaluating the Use of Kodak Photo CD technology for
        Preserving and Making Available Research Materials (
        $31,625).  Cornell University will conduct a joint
        demonstration project in cooperation with ten of the eleven
        comprehensive research libraries in New York State to
        evaluate the use of the Kodak Photo CD technology to
        preserve and make accessible a range of research materials.
        The joint project will seek to assess image quality
        resulting from the Photo CD process for document categories
        representative of materials that research institutions are
        considering for digital conversion. These include:
        photographs, posters, broadsides, playbills, architectural
        drawings and blueprints, works of art on paper, book
        illustrations, maps sheet music, handwritten and illuminated
        manuscripts, and scrapbook pages.  A Kodak imaging
        scientist--and leading imaging and photographic experts
        serving as consultants to this project--will assist Cornell
        staff in developing an evaluation methodology.  The
        evaluation will take into consideration resolution, color
        fidelity, and other factors affecting quality of the digital
        images as represented on screen and in print.  Cornell will
        draft Quality Index benchmarking formulas for conversion and
        presentation.

    6.  New York State Medieval Studies Coordinated Microfilming
        Project ($71,910).  This project, sponsored by Columbia
        University will create preservation microfilm for brittle
        portions of three important collections of scholarly
        materials on medieval subjects printed before 1950.  A total
        of 1,325 volumes will be filmed:  625 nineteenth-century
        foreign dissertations on medieval history and literature
        from Columbia University; 400 monograph volumes on medieval
        Icelandic topics from Cornell University; and 300 monograph
        volumes on medieval English language and history from the
        University of Rochester.

    7.  New York State Coordinated Project to Microfilm Manchurian
        History Materials ($40,470).  This project, sponsored by
        Columbia University will create preservation microfilm of
        540 monograph and serial volumes from ca. 1890-1950 in both
        Eastern and Western languages concerning Manchuria.
        Published at the height of the brittle paper era, and often
        on low-grade paper even for that era, these materials are
        endangered not only by their own fragility, but also by the
        vicissitudes of war and revolution in many of the countries
        in which they were published. Libraries in China, Japan,
        Korea, the Soviet Union and Manchuria itself have all
        suffered during the twentieth century, and it is
        unfortunately often the case that the brittle copies of
        their books now held at Columbia, Cornell, or the New York
        Public Library are in fact the only surviving copies.

    8.  New York State Social Agencies Serials Coordinated
        Microfilming Project ($49,065). Sponsored by Columbia
        University with the participation of the New York Public
        Library, the New York State Library, New York University,
        the University of Rochester, SUNY at Albany and SUNY at
        Buffalo this project  will preserve 650 brittle volumes of
        serials published between 1850 and 1950 by both public and
        private social agencies operating in New York State.
        Participating libraries will attempt to put together a
        complete run of each title by pooling their holdings.  Any
        remaining gaps will be filled as much as possible through
        borrowing from non-participant libraries. Copies of the
        microfilm will be available through Inter-Library loan or
        sale of copies at cost to any requester.

For more information about the Conservation/Preservation Program or
its activities write to:

    Barbara Lilley
    Conservation/Preservation Program Officer
    New York State Library
    Library Development
    10C47 Cultural Education Center
    Albany, NY  12230
    518-474-6971
    blilley [at] unix2__nysed__gov

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:24
                 Distributed: Friday, September 6, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-24-025
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