NYSL Grants

New York State Library Announces Grants to Research Libraries to
Preserve Endangered Materials

Assistant Commissioner for Libraries and State Librarian Janet M.
Welch 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 education in preservation techniques.

The grants are part of a Coordinated Preservation Program enacted in
1984. They provide funds for cooperative activities among 11
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 that have expanded the preservation knowledge throughout
the State.

According to Barbara Lilley, Conservation/Preservation Program
Officer in the New York State Library, Division of Library
Development, the eight projects supported by the Coordinated
Preservation Project Program in 1998-99 are:

    1.  New York State Coordinated Music Re-recording Project, Phase
        II ($77,358). Columbia University, along with Cornell
        University and the Eastman School of Music at the University
        of Rochester, will re-record unique music recordings
        produced between 1951 and 1968. The recordings from the
        three institutions document the early careers of many
        important American musicians and composers as well as the
        development of serious music in New York State and the
        nation during the second half of this century. Preservation
        activities will consist of re-recording the original tapes
        onto high-quality analog tape to create new masters, and
        simultaneous copying into digital formats for use copies.

    2.  Preserving the Heritage of New York/Northeast Agriculture,
        Natural History, and Natural Resources. ($161,156 three-year
        project--Year 1 1998/99 $32,336). This project, sponsored by
        Cornell University, will reformat brittle materials on
        agriculture and rural life in New York State and the natural
        history, environment and natural resources of the Northeast
        bio-region (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England,
        Quebec, and Ontario). A total of 1,750 volumes in 1,500
        titles from the collections of Cornell University, The New
        York Public Library and the New York State Library will be
        preserved by producing archival quality microforms.

    3.  Basic Care and Management of Sound Recordings: a Series of
        Six Regional Workshops ($16,741 for a two-year project).
        Syracuse University Library, on behalf of the Preservation
        Program representatives of the 11 New York State
        Comprehensive Research Libraries, will provide a series of
        six one-day workshops, to be held at different locations
        throughout New York State, on the basic care and management
        of sound recordings. The intended audience for these
        workshops will be relevant staff of the 11 comprehensive
        research libraries and librarians, archivists and
        individuals from New York State who are involved in the
        establishment or maintenance of a sound archive or who deal
        with sound recordings as part of their general institutional
        collections and need basic information about the care and
        management of the variety of sound recording formats. Each
        workshop will be taught by a team of experienced practicing
        sound archivists, and all six will be moderated by Martha
        Hanson, Syracuse University Library's Preservation
        Administrator and Director of the Library's Belfer Audio
        Laboratory and Archive. Products of these workshops will
        include the:

        *   Development, statewide application and consequent
            evaluation of a "standardized workshop curriculum"
            entitled "Workshop Presenters' Aid" for subsequent use
            in teaching by audio archivists. Produced as part of the
            project by a team of experienced sound archivists, the
            "Workshop Presenters' Aid" will include such components
            as curriculum guidelines, sample workshop agenda, and a
            set of teaching materials.

        *   Development of "Sounds Great! Basic Information and
            Resources for the Care and Management of Sound
            Recordings" information packet. The "Sounds Great!"
            information packets will be distributed to each workshop
            participant, as well as made available for purchase from
            the New York State Library.

    4.  Preservation Photocopying of Brittle Oversized Music Scores
        ($46,545). In a project sponsored by the University of
        Rochester, they and Columbia University will preservation
        photocopy 550 brittle, endangered scores.

    5.  New York State South Asia Coordinated Microfilming Project
        ($72,237). Columbia University, along with Cornell
        University and The New York Public Library, will microfilm
        900 seriously brittle monograph volumes published in South
        Asia ca. 1850-1950. The materials come from India, Pakistan,
        Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Printed in the major
        languages of the subcontinent (including English), they
        range in subject over the important categories of the
        humanities, social sciences and government documents of the
        British Raj and the local princely states.

    6.  New York State Business Serials Coordinated Microfilming
        Project ($54,540). Columbia University, in partnership with
        The New York Public Library, will microfilm approximately
        136 volumes averaging 1,700 pages each of four brittle
        serials chosen from the publications of the Fitch Investor's
        Service and The Fitch Publishing Company in New York City.
        They 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
        nonparticipating libraries. This is a two-year project with
        $40,684 in year one and $54,540 in year two for a total
        award amount of $95,224.

    7.  Preservation Photocopying of Near-Eastern, Greek and Roman
        Archaeological Reports ($37,044). In this project Cornell
        University, Columbia University Libraries and The New York
        Public Library will preserve, by means of preservation
        photocopy, 625 reports from Near Eastern, Greek, and Roman
        archaeological excavations. Cornell will focusing its
        efforts on reports from the Near Eastern civilizations,
        Columbia on ancient Greek and Roman archaeology, and The New
        York Public Library Jewish Division will select materials
        from archaeological excavations in what is now Israel,
        Palestine and the Holy Lands.

    8.  Central New York Technician Training Program ($29,940 in
        year one.) This program is designed to 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 two-week training sessions. This is a three-year
        grant with $29,940 in year one, $31,244 in year two and
        $32,492 in year three for a total award of $93,676.

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] mail__nysed__gov

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:11
                   Distributed: Friday, July 17, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-11-030
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