Exhibit on information preservation

"Keeping Our Word:  Preserving Information Across the Ages," a new
exhibition by the University of Iowa Libraries explores the long
history of information preservation and the efforts made to save a
record of our cultural heritage over the past 10 millennia.  The
exhibition opens October 1998 and runs through January 1999 in the
North Exhibition Hall of the Main Library. "Keeping Our Word" can be
toured online at <URL:http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/ref/exhibit>

Regina Sinclair, preservation librarian, curated the exhibition with
UI Libraries staff Lissa Lord, Bob Joly, Kathryn Neal and Karen
Zimmerman, with assistance from Rijn Templeton and Anna Embree.
Sinclair points out, "Our recent access to digital information has
led many to the mistaken assumption that it solves the preservation
challenge or that information in paper format now has very limited
usefulness."

"Keeping Our Word" examines how information that has emerged from
stone to paper and most recently as electronic media has been saved
over time.  A selective survey of important events from the
development of 8,000-year-old cuneiform writing to the recent
evolution of digital information is on display.  Additionally, a
portion of the exhibition includes a look at the evolution of
libraries and archives.

The exhibition focuses on new and not-so-new preservation
challenges, including an examination of paper's durability and
emerging technologies that are used for preservation.

Two videos on the subject of preserving information, "Slow Fires"
and "Into the Future" are scheduled for a free, public showing on
November 10.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:35
                 Distributed: Thursday, October 8, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-35-013
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